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Register  No.....L9..aAQ. 


THE 


LATIN  HYMN -WRITERS 


THEIR    HYMNS. 


BY   THE   LATE 


SAMUEL  WILLOUGHBY   DUFFIELD, 

AUTHOR  OF  "  THE  HEAVENLY  LAND,"    "  WARP  AND  WOOF,"   "  THE  BURIAL  OF  THE 
DEAD,"  AND  "  ENGLISH  HYMNS  :  THEIR  AUTHORS  AND  HISTORY." 


EDITED    AND    COMPLETED    BY 

PROF.    R.  E.  THOMPSON,   D.D., 

Of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 


"  Et  semper  in  hunc  studiorum  quare  munitissimum  portum  ex  hujus  temporis  tempes- 
tatibus  lubenter  confugissem." — H.  A.  DANIEL. 

"  In  diesem  Sinne  betrachte  ich  diese,  tins  von  der  Vorzeit  uberlieferten  ehrwiirdigen 
und  erhabenen  Kirchlichen  Dichtungen  als  ein  geistiges  Gemeingut." — G.  A.  KONIGSFELD. 


FUNK   &  WAGNALLS, 
NEW  YORK  :  1889.  LONDON: 

18   &    20   ASTOR   PLACE.  44    FLEET   STREET. 

All  Rights  Reserved. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1889,  by 

FUNK  &  WAGNALLS, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 


SOME  months  before  the  death  of  my  true  hearted  friend,  Rev. 
S.  W.  Duffield,  he  wrote  to  express  his  wish  that  I  should  com 
plete  this  work,  if  he  did  not  live  to  finish  it  As  I  was  not  aware 
how  grave,  and  even  hopeless,  was  his  illness,  I  did  not  feel  that 
I  was  undertaking  a  serious  responsibility  in  assenting  to  his  wish. 
But  his  untimely  death  brought  to  me  the  duty  of  discharging  a 
wish  which  "  the  emphasis  of  death"  made  imperative. 

In  our  conferences  over  the  book  and  its  subject,  which  we  had 
had  for  three  years  past,  I  had  come  to  appreciate  Mr.  Duffield' s 
ideas  as  to  its  form  and  content,  and  read  with  much  interest  his 
preliminary  studies  in  the  Christian  Intelligencer,  the  Sunday-School 
Times,  and  the  New  Englander.  On  coming  into  possession 
of  his  manuscript  and  notes,  I  found  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
book  had  been  carried  almost  to  the  point  of  readiness  for  the 
printer,  although  several  chapters  had  not  been  written  and  all 
needed  careful  revision. 

I  have  revised  throughout  the  chapters  Mr.  Duffield  left,  but  in 
doing  so  I  have  been  embarrassed  by  the  very  vitality  and  personal 
quality  in  Mr.  Duffield' s  style.  He  reminds  one  of  what  Arch 
deacon  Hare  says  of  the  freshness  and  living  force  in  a  page  of 
Luther's.  This  has  constrained  me  to  leave  intact  many  a  phrase 
or  expression  I  should  not  have  used,  but  which  was  natural  and 
even  inevitable  in  him.  It  is  my  hope  that  I  have  not  sacrificed 
this  admirable  quality  of  his  writing  to  any  pedantry  of  judgment. 

The  chapters  on  Pope  Damasus  (Chapter  IV. )  I  have  rewritten 
throughout.  That  on  Bernard  of  Cluny  I  have  rearranged,  but 
without  much  alteration.  That  on  Thomas  of  Celano  I  have  re 
written  to  the  top  of  page  252.  That  on  Hermann  of  Reichenau 
I  should  have  liked  to  rewrite  ;  but  as  I  dissented  from  some  of 
its  arguments,  I  feared  to  more  than  retouch  it.  It  stands  as  a 


IV  EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 

monument  of  its  author's  vehement  conviction  that  in  Hermann 
he  had  found  the  true  author  of  the  Veni  Sancte  Spiritus. 

The  later  chapters,  from  Thomas  Aquinas,  with  the  exception  of 
those  on  Jacoponus  and  Xavier,  are  the  work  of  the  editor  alone. 
In  preparing  them  I  have  followed  the  author's  own  plan  for  the 
book,  except  (i)  in  treating  of  the  less-known  as  well  as  the  un 
known  hymn- writers  in  Chapters  XXX.  and  XXXI.;  (2)  in  insert 
ing  a  chapter  on  the  relations  of  Protestantism  to  Latin  hymnol- 
ogy  ;  and  (3)  in  giving  in  the  last  chapter  only  a  selection  from 
Mr.  Duffield's  great  Index  of  the  Latin  Hymns,  which  I  hope  to  see 
published  complete  in  a  separate  book.  Translations  not  credited 
to  any  other  person  are  the  work  of  Mr.  Duffield. 

Mr.  Duffield's  own  idea  of  his  book  is  well  expressed  in  the 
Introduction  which  follows  this  Preface.  I  give  it  as  he  left  it, 
although  he  had  noted  his  purpose  to  prepare  another  which 
would  cover  the  ground  more  fully.  It  now  remains  to  say  some 
thing  of  the  man  personally,  and  in  this  I  am  indebted  much  to 
the  assistance  of  his  faithful  coworker  in  his  hymnological  studies, 
Miss  Lilian  B.  Day  of  Bloomfield,  who  copied  his  great  Index  of 
the  Latin  Hymns,  and  who  prepared  the  indexes  to  both  his  Eng 
lish  Hymns  and  the  present  volume. 


Samuel  Augustus  Willoughby  Duffield  was  born  at  Brooklyn, 
on  September  24th,  1843.  His  family  was  of  French  Huguenot 
extraction  (Du  Field),  and  found  a  home  in  the  North  of  Ireland 
after  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  Between  1725  and 
1730  George  Duffield,  his  ancestor  by  five  removes,  settled  in 
Lancaster  County,  as  one  of  the  great  Ulster  emigration  which 
was  flowing  into  Pennsylvania.  His  son  George  graduated  at 
Princeton,  and  after  several  pastorates  was  settled  in  Philadelphia 
in  the  Pine  Street  church.  He  was  an  ardent  patriot,  chaplain  in 
Washington's  army,  and  Bishop  White's  associate  in  the  chaplaincy 
of  the  Continental  Congress.  Of  two  sons  who  survived  him,  one 
became  a  minister,  while  the  other  took  a  prominent  part  in  pub 
lic  life.  His  grandson,  Rev.  George  Duffield,  D.D.  (1796-1868) 
was  a  leader  of  the  New  School  division  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  both  before  and  after  the  separation  of  1837,  and  while 
pastor  at  Carlisle  was  arraigned  for  unsound  teaching  in  his  work 
on  Regeneration,  "Barnes,  Beman,  and  Duffield"  were  the 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE.  V 

three  names  most  offensive  to  the  Aristarchuses  of  orthodoxy  in 
that  time.  He  was  married  to  a  sister  of  Dr.  George  W.  Be- 
thune.  His  son,  generally  known  in  our  times  as  Dr.  George 
Duffield,  Jr.,  to  distinguish  him  from  his  father,  was  born  in  1818 
at  Carlisle,  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1837,  and  at  Union 
Theological  Seminary.  One  of  his  pastorates  was  in  Brooklyn, 
from  1840  to  1847,  during  which  his  son,  Samuel  Augustus  Wil- 
loughby,  was  born.  He  is  best  known  as  a  hymn-writer,  two  of 
his  hymns  being  known  and  loved  wherever  the  English  language 
is  spoken.  They  are,  "  Blessed  Saviour,  Thee  I  love,"  and 
"  Stand  up,  stand  up  for  Jesus,"  the  latter  being  suggested  by  the 
dying  words  of  Dudley  Tyng  in  1858. 

Samuel  W.  Duffield  was  of  the  sixth  American  generation  of  his 
family.  From  his  youth  he  was  a  young  giant,  with  an  inborn 
love  of  active  sports,  quick  in  movement,  and  apparently  incapable 
of  fatigue.  His  mind  showed  equal  vigor  and  freshness,  and  he  early 
developed  a  passion  for  poetry.  By  his  tenth  year  he  had  mastered 
Chaucer,  in  spite  of  difficulties  much  more  serious  to  beginners 
in  those  days  than  in  our  own.  And  he  very  early  began  to  find 
expression  for  his  own  ideas  in  verse.  He  united  with  the  Church 
at  the  age  of  thirteen,  when  his  father  was  a  pastor  in  Philadelphia, 
being  the  only  one  who  did  so  at  the  time,  so  that  the  act  was  the 
result  of  personal  decision  and  not  of  a  revival  excitement.  He 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1863  ;  and  after  teaching  for  a  while,  he 
began  the  study  of  theology  under  the  care  of  his  grandfather  and 
his  father.  Not  until  after  he  had  been  licensed  to  preach,  and 
had  had  charge  of  a  mission  in  Chicago,  did  he  present  himself  as 
a  student  in  Union  Theological  Seminary. 

His  first  pastorate  was  from  1867  to  1870  at  Tioga,  one  of  the 
northern  suburbs  of  Philadelphia.  As  he  frequently  came  to  the 
office  of  the  American  Presbyterian,  on  which  I  was  assisting  the 
late  Dr.  John  W.  Hears,  I  then  formed  an  acquaintance  with  him, 
which  ripened  into  a  friendship  that  was  to  be  lifelong,  and  I  hope- 
even  longer.  He  was  an  impressive  figure,  of  more  than  the 
ordinary  height,  and  yet  so  massively  built  that  he  was  seen  to  be 
tall  only  when  beside  another  person.  His  manner  was  cheerful, 
affectionate  and  buoyant,  giving  evidence  in  various  ways  of  his 
French  descent.  His  character  was  winning  and  attractive  by  its 
openness,  and  its  entire  freedom  from  selfishness.  He  was  a  man 


VI  EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 

out  of  whose  heart  the  child  never  died,  and  he  carried  the  fresh 
ness  of  his  boyhood's  years  into  the  mature  pursuits  of  his  man 
hood. 

Our  common  love  of  poetry  and  our  dawning  interest  in  Latin 
hymnology — he  had  translated  Bernard  of  Cluny  and  was  frying 
his  hand  on  the  Dies  Irae  in  those  days — drew  us  closer  together 
and  gave  our  friendship  an  intellectual  interest.  When  he  left 
Tioga  for  Jersey  City  our  intercourse  became  more  fragmentary, 
but  during  his  pastorate  at  Ann  Arbor  (1871-74)  it  was  renewed 
by  correspondence.  He  felt  himself  especially  at  home  in  the 
university  city  of  Michigan,  with  a  congregation  composed  largely 
of  the  students.  Here  he  had  the  delight  of  welcoming  Dr. 
George  Macdonald  to  his  pulpit,  when  the  poet  visited  America  in 
1873.  He  worked  hard  to  have  me  called  to  the  Chair  of  English 
Literature  in  the  University  of  Michigan,  but  did  not  succeed. 

Chicago,  1874,  Auburn,  1876,  Altoona,  1878,  and  Bloomfield, 
1882,  were  his  subsequent  pastorates  ;  and  in  Bloomfield  he  re 
mained  until  his  death.  In  this  New  Jersey  suburb  of  New  York 
City  he  seemed  to  find  himself  especially  at  home.  It  was  indeed 
the  home  of  his  early  boyhood,  for  his  father  had  been  pastor  of 
the  same  church  from  1847  to  1852  ;  he  well  remembered  his 
playmates  and  schoolmates,  and  kept  up  his  acquaintance  by  cor 
respondence  and  visits,  until  he  came  among  them  as  their  pastor. 
He  was  near  enough  to  the  great  city  to  find  easy  access  to  its 
libraries,  especially  the  Astor  Library  and  that  of  Union  Seminary, 
and  to  enjoy  the  friendship  of  scholars  of  tastes  similar  to  his  own, 
especially  that  of  Dr.  Charles  S.  Robinson.  He  found  a  con 
genial  people  in  his  congregation.  He  took  a  lively  interest  in 
matters  relating  to  the  welfare  of  the  town,  was  an  active  member 
of  the  Village  Improvement  Association,  labored  hard  to  establish 
a  public  library,  and  helped  to  set  on  foot  a  good  weekly  paper. 
He  became  Chaplain  of  the  Fire  Company,  and  preached  a  special 
sermon  every  year  to  its  members.  He  spoke  always  with  enthu 
siasm  of  his  new  environment,  and  seemed  to  look  forward  to 
many  happy  and  useful  years  there.  His  home  life,  I  shall  only 
say,  was  especially  happy  and  helpful  to  him.  Among  his  de 
lights  was  to  watch  the  dawning  powers  of  a  daughter,  who  inherits 
all  her  father's  poetic  gifts. 

His  best  poetical  work  is  still  unpublished,  except  such  parts  of 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE.  Vll 

it  as  have  appeared  in  the  Sunday-School  Times  and  other  weeklies. 
His  first  venture  was  The  Heavenly  Land,  from  the  Rhythm  of  Ber 
nard  of  Morlaix  (New  York,  1867).  His  second  and  most  char 
acteristic  book  was  Warp  and  Woof :  A  Book  of  Verse  (1868),  in 
which  "Undergraduate  Orioles"  and  some  other  pieces  at  once 
attracted  attention  by  their  felicitous  beauty  and  genuineness. 
Along  with  his  father,  he  prepared  The  Burial  of  the  Dead  (1882), 
a  manual  for  use  at  funerals.  In  the  long  interval  between  these 
two  dates  he  was  already  laboring  at  his  book  on  the  Latin  hymn- 
writers.  "  During  the  years  1882-85,"  writes  Miss  Day,  "  those 
of  us  who  saw  him  most  frequently  on  his  way  to  and  from  the 
New  York  libraries  came  to  recognize  a  large,  square  note-book 
and  a  green  cloth  bag  as  his  inseparable  Monday  companions. 
Something  of  their  contents  we  knew,  for  with  his  genial  disposi 
tion  he  could  not  refrain  from  quoting  snatches  of  the  old  Latin 
hymns  with  translations  into  musical  English.  But  no  one  could 
appreciate  the  real  worth  of  the  knowledge  concealed  between 
cloth  and  board  as  did  the  student  himself,  who  had  spent  the 
hours  of  leisure  snatched  from  professional  labors  in  the  libraries, 
and  among  Latin  quartos  and  folios,  in  search  of  the  materials  for 
his  book.  During  the  latter  part  of  1885  the  Latin  hymn-writers 
were  laid  aside  for  a  while  to  give  time  for  his  work  on  English 
Hymns  :  Their  Authors  and  History  (New  York  :  Funk  &  Wag- 
nails,  1886),"  which  was  suggested  by  the  appearance  of  Dr.  Robin 
son's  Laudes  Domini  in  1884,  and  is  mainly  an  account  of  the 
hymns  included  in  that  work,  and  of  their  authors.  When  this 
was  finished  he  returned  to  his  opus  magnum,  in  the  expectation  of 
having  it  soon  ready  for  the  press.  From  our  conferences  and 
correspondence  I  was  led  to  hope  for  its  early  appearance.  But 
this  was  not  to  be.  A  failure  of  the  vessels  of  the  heart,  evidently 
from  some  constitutional  weakness,  as  he  had  been  making  no 
special  exertion  when  it  showed  itself,  was  the  beginning  of  the 
end.  Twelve  weary  months  of  illness,  spent  partly  in  Bloomfield 
and  partly  at  a  watering-place,  to  which  he  had  gone  for  change  of 
air,  were  followed  by  his  death  on  May  i2th,  1887.  He  died  as 
he  had  lived,  in  the  full  assurance  of  the  Gospel,  and  looking  for 
life  everlasting  in  Jesus  Christ. 

The  news  of  his  death  was  received  with  grief  by  the  whole  com 
munity,  especially  by  the  young  people,  with  whom  he  had  so 


viii  EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 

lively  a  sympathy.  The  Bloomfield  Fire  Company  displayed  their 
flag  at  half-mast,  placed  a  guard  of  honor  over  his  remains  during 
the  forty  hours  they  lay  at  the  church,  and  attended  his  funeral  in 
a  body.  Signs  of  the  general  mourning  were  seen  everywhere, 
and  the  town  felt  it  had  lost  a  public-spirited  citizen,  while  his 
church  had  lost  a  faithful  and  devoted  pastor.  Mingled  with 
memoranda  for  his  book,  I  find  in  his  note-books  other  indica 
tions  of  the  breadth  and  energy  of  his  work  for  the  spiritual  and 
intellectual  improvement  of  his  people,  especially  through  his  lec 
tures  before  the  Young  People's  Society  of  the  Westminster 
Church. 

In  the  city  of  the  dead  at  Detroit,  where  his  kindred  lie  buried, 
there  stands  a  memorial  stone,  which  bears  the  inscription  : 

DILECTISSIMUS 

EHEU  PRAEMISSUS  EST 

QUANQUAM   E   VITAE   INTEGRAE   MEDIO 

RAPTUS 

AEVUM   LONG1SSIMUM  PEREGIT 

BEATO   ILLI 

PATER   UXOR 

MULTIS   CUM   LACRIMIS 

HOC   MARMOR 

DEDICAVERE 

L  Beside  him  lies  now  the  mortal  part  of  the  much-loved  father 
who  wrote  these  words.  Dr.  George  Duffield  the  younger  died 
July  6,  1888. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  study  of  the  Latin  hymns  is  so  much  a  thing  of  its  own 
kind  that  one  owes  iMo  himself  as  well  as  to  his  readers  to  begin 
at  the  beginning.  This  beginning  in  the  present  instance  hap 
pened  to  be  on  the  North  River,  on  a  bright,  fresh  April  morning 
in  the  year  of  grace  1882.  It  was  at  that  time,  with  the  clear  sky 
overhead  and  the  hearty  breeze  coming  full  in  our  faces  from  the 
Narrows,  that  my  friend,  the  Rev.  F.  N.  Zabriskie,  D.D. ,  broached 
the  following  proposition  : 

It  was,  he  said,  a  matter  of  great  surprise  to  him  that  no  one 
had  done  for  the  Latin  hymn- writers  what  had  been  done  for  those 
of  later  date.  We  had  their  hymns,  but  for  his  part  he  confessed 
to  a  love  for  the  personality  of  the  poets  themselves,  and  for  the 
circumstances  which  conspired  to  produce  their  poems.  Now,  if 
it  seemed  good  to  myself,  who  had  already  given  time  and  study 
to  the  hymns,  he  would  gladly  open  the  columns  of  the  Christian 
Intelligencer  (the  organ  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  America)  to 
a  series  of  articles  bearing  such  a  character.  And  there  and  then 
the  book  began. 

But  my  original  ideas  modified  greatly  as  I  went  on.  In  place 
of  my  mastering  the  subject,  the  subject  mastered  me.  My  pre 
vious  studies  went  for  but  very  little,  and  my  confidence  in  my 
ability  to  prepare  the  articles  without  taking  much  time  from 
regular  and  important  duties  diminished  with  every  number.  I 
found  myself  on  new  ground  and  was  perpetually  referred  back  to 
the  original  authorities.  French  and  German  and  Latin — I  had 
to  investigate  them  all  in  order  to  satisfy  that  insatiate  creature,  a 
scholar's  conscience.  I  discovered  that,  except  for  rare  and  slight 
notices,  this  sort  of  work  had  neither  been  done  nor  was  likely  to 
be  done,  and  conferences  with  our  best  hymnologists  only  made 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

me  more  interested  in  doing  it,  and  doing  it  as  well  as  I  could. 
Doubtless  those  whose  specialities  lie  in  mediaeval  days  will  find 
much  to  criticise,  but  no  one  can  be  a  severer  critic  than  myself 
according  to  my  means  of  information. 

These  chapters,  like  this  Introduction,  will  be  found  to  be  writ 
ten  in  the  American  language.  Their  purpose  is  to  reach  the 
popular  desire  for  better  knowledge,  and  it  would  be  absurd  to 
offer  these  facts  in  any  dry  or  pedantic  style.  Yet  the  scholar  and 
the  hymnologist  will  both  find  that  a  positive  value  and  a  careful 
accuracy  attach  to  the  work  that  has  been  done.  1  found  I 
could  take  nothing  for  granted,  and  I  took  nothing  for  granted. 
Even  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  and  the  principal  of  Sackville 
College  have  their  idiosyncrasies  and  predilections,  and  a  quite 
easy  way  of  writing  on  these  topics  is  to  copy  what  has  been  said 
already.  A  very  notable  case  to  the  contrary  is  Lord  Selborne's 
splendid  article  on  "  Hymns"  in  the  new  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 

Therefore  life  and  song  and  color  are  not  absent,  I  trust,  from 
these  pages.  I  should  not  like  to  give  all  the  authorities  consulted 
or  rummaged  through  ;  for,  indeed,  I  have  kept  no  record  of 
them.  Like  the  famous  sun-dial  I  have  registered  none  but  the 
serene  hours,  and  many  a  time  the  scarce  and  long-sought  volume 
before  me  has  been  jejune  enough.  While,  on  the  other  hand,  a 
book  like  Morison's  Life  of  Si.  Bernard  has  turned  out  to  be 
precisely  the  help  I  was  seeking,  bright  in  its  style  and  careful 
and  original  in  its  researches.  I  have  verified  its  quotations  too 
often  not  to  pay  it  at  least  this  faint  tribute  of  approval. 

It  would  be  also  beyond  measure  ungrateful  in  me  if  I  did  not 
here  acknowledge  the  kindnesses  I  have  received  in  this  quest  after 
the  Sangreal  of  a  true  psalmody.  Let  me  name,  then,  the  Astor 
Library.  Its  superintendent,  Mr.  Little,  and  its  librarians,  Mr. 
Frederick  Saunders  (author  of  Evenings  with  the  Sacred  Poets], 
and  his  assistant,  Mr.  Bierstadt,  have  been  uniformly  courteous 
and  obliging.  So  has  been  the  Rev.  Professor  Charles  A.  Briggs, 
D.  D. ,  in  whose  care  is  the  fine  theological  library  of  Union  Sem 
inary.  So  have  been  the  authorities  of  the  Society  Library  (New 
York),  and  of  the  Philadelphia  Library,  and  of  the  Boston  Athe 
naeum  and  Public  libraries. 

Personally,  I  am  deeply  indebted  to  the  culture  and  friendship 
of  Miss  Marion  L.  Pelton,  Assistant  Professor  of  Literature  in 


INTRODUCTION.  xi 

Wellesley  College,  who  has  made  for  me  many  valuable  notes  ; 
and  to  the  assistance  and  counsel  of  Professor  F.  A.  March, 
LL.D.,  Professor  F.  M.  Bird,  Professor  Philip  Schaff,  D.D.,  and 
Judge  W.  H.  Arnoux. 

It  will'  be  readily  seen  that  I  have  not  concerned  myself  with  the 
matter  of  the  host  of  English  translations,  or  with  that  of  the  com 
parison  and  criticism  of  the  text  of  the  hymns.  These  branches 
of  hymnology  are  in  a  scientific  sense  the  most  valuable,  but  in  a 
popular  sense  they  are  the  least  interesting.  And  I  could  not  hope 
to  rival,  far  less  to  equal,  such  illustrious  scholarship  as  that  of 
Daniel  or  Mone.  I  have  therefore  been  content  to  pipe  to  a  lesser 
reed,  and  in  a  more  familiar  and  gossiping  way  to  attempt  the 
history  of  the  hymns.  And  for  the  rest  I  can  only  add  what 
Master  Robert  Burton  saith  in  his  Anatomy  of  Melancholy  :  "If 
through  weakness,  folly,  passion,  ignorance,  I  have  said  amiss,  let 
it  be  forgotten  and  forgiven.  ...  I  earnestly  request  every  private 
man,  as  Scaliger  did  Cardan,  not  to  take  offence.  ...  If  thou 
knewest  my  modesty  and  simplicity,  thou  wouldest  easily  pardon 
and  forgive  what  is  here  amiss,  or  by  thee  misconceived." 

SAMUEL  WILLOUGHBY  DUFFIELD. 

BLOOMFIELD,  N.  J.,  U.  S.  A. 


LATIN   HYMNS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE    PRAISE    SERVICE    OF    THE    EARLY    CHURCH. 

WHEN  our  Lord  and  His  disciples  "  had  sung  an  hymn"  they 
left  the  place  where  they  had  observed  the  passover,  and  went  out 
to  the  Mount  of  Olives.  This  hymn  was  the  "  Great  Hallel," 
consisting  of  Psalms  113  to  118  inclusive.  The  H3th  and  ii4th 
were  sung  previous  to  the  feast ;  the  others,  after  it  We  thus 
know,  with  singular  accuracy,  what  was  the  first  hymn  of  praise  in 
the  Christian  Church.  The  essence  of  this  ' '  Hallel ' '  is  the 
essence  of  all  true  psalmody — trust  and  thanksgiving  and  praise. 

It  may  be  said,  and  with  truth,  that  the  Magnificat  of  Mary,  the 
Nunc  Dimittis  of  old  Simeon,  and,  above  all,  that  the  Gloria  in 
Excelsis  Deo  of  the  angels  at  Bethlehem,  antedate  this  hymn  of 
our  Lord  and  His  apostles.  It  may  also  be  said,  and  with  the 
same  truth,  that  these  furnished  to  the  early  Christians  their  earli 
est  expressions  of  praise.  But  it  appears  that  the  Last  Supper, 
with  its  pathetic  union  of  Jewish  and  Christian  ideas,  was  also  the 
place  at  which  the  Psalms  of  David  and  the  spiritual  songs  of 
primitive  Christianity  were  united.  The  thought  that  this  reveals 
is  larger  than  these  limits  will  permit  us  to  discuss.  It  is  in  brief 
that  as  Jesus  Christ  came,  "  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil,"  He 
designed  to  show  to  His  Church  that  gratitude,  love,  trust,  and 
adoration  were  to  be  combined  in  all  future  psalmody.  The 
fhillim  of  the  Jew  were  to  become  the  hymni  of  the  Christian. 

The  noticeable  fact  remains  that  the  early  Church  only  caught 
the  simplest  and  most  fervent  forms  of  this  worship.  Their  pure 
veneration  of  the  Lord  led  Pliny  to  write  (Ep.  10  :  97)  that  they 


2  LATIN  HYMNS. 

"  sung  alternately  among  themselves  a  hymn  to  Christ  as  God  " 
— carmen  Chrislo  quasi  Deo,  dicere  secum  invicem.  It  is  this  loving 
devotion  which  charms  us  as  we  read  those  verses  which  have  been 
preserved.  For  the  most  part  the  subjects  are  limited.  We  could 
naturally  expect  that,  being  largely  drawn  from  Jewish  sources, 
they  would  express  gratitude  and  adoration — and  this  is  correct. 
Chrysostom  declared  that  the  early  Christians  sung  at  prayers  in 
the  morning,  at  their  work,  and  very  usually  at  their  meals. 
Jerome,  writing  to  Marcellus,  says — and  we  quote  Cave's  trans 
lation  for  its  quaintness — "  You  could  not  go  into  the  field  but 
you  might  hear  the  Ploughman  at  his  Hallelujahs,  the  Mower  at  his 
Hymns,  and  the  Vine-dresser  singing  David's  Psalms."  In  fact, 
Christian  song  was  a  notable  feature  of  primitive  Christianity. 

The  language  of  these  hymns  was  either  Syriac  or  Greek.  By 
degrees  the  Greek  obtained  the  precedence  ;  and  as  the  Latin  hymns 
did  not  arise  until  Hilary  of  Poitiers  (fourth  century),  the  period 
between  the  Ascension  and  that  era  belongs  to  the  Greek  language 
rather  more  than  to  any  other.  We  also  know  from  the  New 
Testament  writers  some  very  important  facts,  which  may  properly 
be  classified  at  this  point. 

!i.  There  were  three  terms  for  the  sacred  song.  It  might  be  a 
psalm,  or  a  hymn,  or  a  spiritual  song ,  as  we  discover  from  Ephesians 
5  :  19  and  Coiossians  3  :  16. 

2.  From  i  Corinthians  14  :  23-33,  it  seems  plain  that  the  com 
position,  as  well  as  the  singing  o£  these  hymns  and  songs,  might  be 
the  result  of  sudden  emotion  or  inspiration.     In  any  case,  there  is 
no  doubt  (for  Tertullian  decisively  states  it)  that  the  "  extempore," 
or,  more  strictly,  "  private"  authorship  of  such  psalmody  was  not 
uncommon.      The  council  of  Laodicea  (circa  A. D.   360)  inter 
dicted  private  persons  from  this  privilege.     Even  in  Paul's  time  it 
would  appear  to  have  produced  an  effect  akin  to  the  "  spirituals" 
of  our  own  freedmen — much  of  it  being  exquisite  in  its  simple 
devotion,  while  a  certain  share  offended  good  taste,  and  hindered 
the  propriety  and  solemnity  of  worship. 

3.  The  alternation  of  prayer  with  praise  was  never  better  illus 
trated  than  when  Paul  and  Silas  (Acts  16  :  25)  sent  up  their  mid 
night  anthems  from  that  "  inner  prison,"  while  their  feet  were 
"  made  fast  in  the  stocks."     This  alternation  was — as  the  Fathers 

.assure  us— 'the  order  in  public  worship  also. 


THE  PRAISE  SERVICE  OF  THE  EARLY  CHURCH.        3 

4.  We  have  received  in  the  very  pages  of  the  New  Testament 
some  of  these  earliest  hymns.     To  say  nothing,  at  present,  of 
those  great  leading  chants  which  bear  the  names  of  the  angels, 
and  of  Mary,  and  of  Zacharias,  and  of  Simeon — and  to  pass  over 
all  those  of  Jewish  origin — we  have  still  left  us  such  a  strain  as 
that  in  Acts  4  :  24-30.     Here  we  have  an  impulse  which  expresses 
itself  in  reply  to  Peter  and  John  by  sacred  song. 

Ephesians  5  :  14  has  also  been  considered  to  be  such  a  frag 
ment  : 

"  Awake,  O  thou  that  sleepest ! 
Arouse  thee  from  the  dead  ! 
And  Christ  shall  give  to  thee 
Enlightenment !" 

So  too  I  Timothy  3:16  has  been  arranged  by  some  scholars  as 
though  it  were  a  well-known  strophe  the  Apostle  quoted  : 

"  Who — for  the  mystery  is  great — 
Was  manifest  in  body, 
Was  justified  in  spirit, 
Was  visible  to  angels. 
Was  heralded  to  heathen, 
Was  trusted  on  the  earth, 
Was  taken  up  to  glory." 

Nor  is  this  the  only  instance  in  this  very  Epistle,  for  i  Timothy 
6  :  15,  1 6,  reads  : 

"  The  king  of  all  the  kingly  ones, 
The  lord  of  all  the  lordly  ones, 
Who  only  hath  the  power  of  life  immortal ; 
Inhabiting  the  unapproachable  light  ; 
Whom  never  any  one  of  men  hath  seen, 
Nor  ever  can  behold  ; 
Let  glory  and  eternal  strength  be  his  ! 
Amen  !" 

5.  When,  now,  we  complete  our  New  Testament  mention  of 
this  praise — which 'clings  like  incense  to  the  temple-curtains  and 
sweetly  perfumes  the  place — we  have  only  to  add  the  earliest  re 
ceived  anthems.     These  are  the  Magnificat  (Luke  I  :  46-55)  ;  the 
Benediclus  (Luke  i  :  68-79)  >  tne  Gloria  in  Excelsis  Deo  (Luke 
2.18);  and  the  Nunc  Dimiltis  (Luke  2  :  29-32).     It  will  be  ob 
served  that  all  these  are  derived  from  a  single  gospel,  wherein, 
more  than  in  any  other,  the  "  sweet,  sad  music  of  humanity"  can 


4  LATIN  HYMNS. 

most  readily  be  found.  It  is  natural,  too,  that  the  painter  and 
physician,  Luke,  should  have  a  poetic  ear  which  could  catch — as 
in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles — this  faintest  and  earliest  praise.  There 
were,  indeed,  in  the  primitive  church,  eight  of  these  classic  expres 
sions  of  worship.  These  are  : 

(r)  The  Lesser  Doxology  (Gloria  Patri), 
"  Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost" 

(2)  The  Greater  Doxology  (Gloria  in  Excelsis), 

"  Glory  be  to. God  on  high,  and  on  earth  peace,"  etc. 

[This  was  also  called  the  Angelical  Hymn.] 

(3)  The  Ter  Sanctus  (the  cherubical  hymn), 

"  Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God  Almighty." 

(4)  The  Hallelujah. 

[This  "  Alleluia,  Amen  !"  was  the  response  of  the  church.] 

(5)  The  Evening  Hymn  (containing  the  Nunc  Dimittis). 

(6)  The  Benedicite. 

[The  "  Song  of  the  Three  Children,"  which  is  taken  from  the  Apocrypha,  and  which  ap 
pears  in  the  service  of  the  Episcopal  Church  (Order  for  Morning  Prayer)  as,  "  O  all  ye 
works  of  the  Lord,"  e"tc.] 

(7)  The  Magnificat. 

[Named — as  these  are  all  named — from  the  first  word  of  the  Latin  Vulgate  vt  -sion.] 

(8)  The  Te  Deum, 

"  We  praise  Thee,  O  God,  we  acknowledge  Thee  to  be  the  Lord,"  etc. 

We  can  feel  quite  sure  that  the  Latin  Church  merely  borrowed 
these  hymns  from  the  earliest  forms  of  the  Greek.  The  Te  Deum 
was  probably  translated  from  that  language,  either  by  Hilary  of 
Poitiers  or  by  an  unknown  author  of  that  date.  It  is,  un 
doubtedly,  a  close  rendering  of  many  phrases  and  expressions 
which  are  common  to  the  Greek  hymns,  and,  if  the  learned 
hymnologist  H.  A.  Daniel  is  to  be  credited  (Thesaurus  Hymno- 
logicus  II.  289),  it  is  a  real  and  literal  translation  of  an  actual 
chant  of  praise  of  great  antiquity.  His  words  are  these  :  "  To 
give  you  my  opinion  briefly,  the  Te  Deum,  equally  with  the 
Angelic  Hymn  (to  which  it  is  very  similar  in  form  and  expres 
sion),  was  born  in  the  Eastern  Church,  whence  it  has  been  trans 
lated  into  the  Latin  tongue."  He  then  proceeds  to  cite  an 
ancient  Greek  hymn,  five  lines  of  which  are  exact  with  the  Latin. 

In  2  Timothy  2  :  11-13  tne  "  faithful  saying"  has  been  inter 
preted  to  be  a  similar  quotation  from  one  of  these  ancient  hymns  : 


THE  PRAISE  SERVICE  OF  THE  EARLY  CHURCH,        5 

"  For  if  we  are  dead  together, 
We  shall  live  together  ; 
If  we  serve  together, 
We  shall  reign  together  ; 
If  we  should  deny  Him, 
He  will  deny  us  too  ; 
If  we  should  be  faithless, 
He  is  faithful  still." 

It  does  not,  of  course,  absolutely  follow  that  these  are  really  such 
fragments  of  hymns  as  scholars  have  supposed.  The  late  Dr. 
Lyman  Coleman — a  man  of  great  practical  good  judgment — com 
ments  upon  these  citations  thus  : 

"  The  argument  is  not  conclusive  ;  and  all  the  learned  criti 
cism,  the  talent,  and  the  taste,  that  have  been  employed  on  this 
point,  leave  us  little  else  than  uncertain  conjecture  on  which  to 
build  an  hypothesis."  (Primitive  Church,  p.  366.)  Yet  the 
latest  scholarship  tends  so  strongly  in  this  direction,  and  the  in 
ternal  evidence  is  so  good  and  fair,  that  it  may  bfc  regarded  as 
pretty  well  affirmed  and  accepted.  No  one,  for  example,  would 
think  of  comparing  such  passages  as  these  with  the  antithetic  prose 
of  Romans  3  :  21-23  ;  or  with  the  magnificent  unrhythmic  utter 
ance  in  Romans  8  :  38,  39  ;  or  with  the  careful  particularity  of 
2  Corinthians  6  :  4-10.  They  are  seen  and  felt  to  be  different 
both  in  tone  and  in  form. 

In  the  Apocalypse,  where  the  language  is  naturally  exalted  and 
poetic,  several  such  instances  have  been  noted.  They  are  :  Rev 
elation  i  :  4-8  ;  5  :  9,  10,  12-14  ;  n  :  15,  17,  18  ;  15  :  3,  4  ; 
21  :  10-14,  and  22:17.  Of  one  of  these — the  "  Song  of  Moses 
and  of  the  Lamb" — we  may  be  reasonably  certain  : 

"  Great  are  Thy  works  and  strange. 
Lord  God.  Thou  Ruler  of  all  ! 
And  just  are  Thy  ways,  and  true, 
Thou  King  of  the  nations  of  earth. 
For  who  shall  not  fear  Thee,  Lord, 
And  give  to  Thy  name  the  praise, 
For  holy  art  Thou  alone  ! — 
To  Thee  shall  the  nations  come 
And  worship  before  Thy  face  ; 
For  all  of  Thy  righteous  acts 
Shall  then  be  openly  known  !" 


6  LATIN  HYMNS. 

In  the  same  manner  may  be  written  the  stanza  from  Revelation 

22  :  17  : 

"  And  the  Spirit  and  the  Bride — 
Are  saying,  '  Come  ! ' 
And  he  that  heareth — 
Let  him  say,  '  Come  ! ' 
And  he  that  thirsteth — 
Let  him  come  ! 
And  he  that  willeth— 
Let  him  receive, 
Freely,  the  water  of  life  !" 

We  have  also  a  positive  acquaintance  with  the  order  of  religious 
worship  in  the  early  Church,  dating  back  one  hardly  knows  how 
far,  but  definitely  leading  us  into  the  custom  of  the  first  three 
centuries.  Public  services  began,  and  were  continued,  as  fol 
lows  : 

First,  Prayer — or,  possibly,  a  Salutation  or  Invocation,  such  as 
is  in  common  use  to-day. 

Then  the  Reading  of  Scripture.  The  Old  Testament  and  New 
Testament  were  both  employed  :  the  one  being  expounded  to 
apply  to  the  case  of  the  Christian  Church  ;  and  the  other  for  her 
comfort,  encouragement,  and  edification. 

Then  followed  the  Hymns  and  Psalms.  The  distinction  appears 
to  have  been  that  ihefsa/ms  were  those  of  David  ;  the  hymns,  such 
as  the  song  of  Mary,  or  of  the  angels  ;  and  the  spiritual  songs, 
such  as  were  composed  by  private  persons,  or  which  sprang  up 
spontaneously  in  a  kind  of  chant.  That  this  was  liable  to 
abuse,  and  might  cause  confusion,  is  made  evident  by  Paul's 
advice  to  the  Corinthians.  Between  these  acts  of  praise  was 
interpolated  some  brief  Scripture  lesson.  And,  very  likely,  a 
considerable  portion  of  time  was  taken  up  by  this  part  of  the 
service. 

Then  came  the  Sermon,  which  was  succeeded  by  a  Prayer. 

,  Another  question  now  meets  us,  and  one  of  some  importance  : 
Did  the  early  Christians  employ  any  musical  instruments  ?  In 
reply,  it  can  be  noted  that  tyaXkziv,  "  to  make  melody"  (Eph. 
5  :  19),  is  usually  taken  to  refer  to  a  musical  accompaniment. 
In  Romans  15  :  9  it  is  a  quotation  from  Psalm  18  :  50,  where  it 
means,  "  I  will  sing  psalms."  In  i  Corinthians  15  :  15  ("I  will 
sing  with  the  spirit,  and  I  will  sing  with  the  understanding  also") 


THE  PRAISE  SERVICE  OF  THE  EARLY  CHURCH.        7 

and  in  James  5  :  13  ("Is  any  merry?  let  him  sing  psalms' )  we 
have  nothing  decisive  except  that  we  know  that  the  Jewish  method 
of  "  singing  psalms"  was  to  the  accompaniment  of  musical  instru 
ments.  Thus,  \rith  all  these  texts  before  us,  we  are  not  able  either 
to  affirm  or  deny  the  fact.  The  reference  of  Paul  (i  Cor.  14  .-7) 
to  the  pipe  (av\o$,  flute)  and  harp  (xiOapa,  lute)  gives  us  no 
assistance.  The  "  harp"  of  Revelation  5  :  8,  14  :  2,  and  15:2, 
is  the  cithara  or  lute  again  ;  but  neither  does  this  tell  us  what  the 
early  Christians  did  or  did  not  do.  The  inference  is  pretty  strong 
that  they  avoided  some  things  that  were  Jewish — and  instrumental 
music  was  a  marked  feature  in  the  Jew's  worship — but  it  is  plain 
that  (as  with  the  Sabbath  question)  there  was  a  great  deal  of  blend 
ing  at  the  edges  between  the  two  dispensations.  We  are  told, 
moreover,  that  the  Syriac  Church  has  always  been  rich  in  tunes, 
having  fully  two  hundred  and  seventy-five,  while  the  Greek  was 
confined  to  about  eight. 

There  is  another  fact  which  comes  in  just  here,  however,  to 
explain  what  we  would  otherwise  find  it  hard  to  unriddle.  It 
is  the  matter  of  the  very  language  of  the  hymns  themselves. 

When  we  observe  the  places  where  these  fragments  occur,  or 
where  singing  in  the  church  is  mentioned,  we  find  that  the  lan 
guage  naturally  is  Greek.  No  one  doubts  that  Luke  and  the 
other  New  Testament  writers  employed  the  tongue  which  was  the 
educated  and  flexible  medium  of  conveying  the  loftiest  truth  ;  nor 
that  Ephesians  or  Corinthians  chanted  in  Greek.  "  The  Greek 
tongue,"  say  Conybeare  and  Howson  (St.  Paul,  i  :  10),  "  became 
to  the  Christian  more  than  it  had  been  to  the  Roman  or  the  Jew." 
It  lends  itself  most  readily  to  that  dithyrambic  shape  in  which 
highly  emotional  natures  could  best  express  their  praise.  So  the 
irregularity  of  the  verse  ;  its  utter  lack  of  metrical  form  (as  Dr. 
Neale  found  when  he  examined  eighteen  quarto  volumes  of  it), 
and  its  simplicity  of  diction,  all  combined  to  put  the  instrumental 
accompaniment  aside.  Perhaps  there  was  a  prejudice — as  Arch 
bishop  Trench  affirms — against  a  distinctively  Jewish  method. 
Perhaps  there  was  a  disposition  in  this,  as  in  other  matters  where 
art  had  perverted  the  morals  of  men,  to  oppose  whatever  looked 
toward  a  possible  laxity.  Music  and  banqueting,  music  and 
luxury,  music  and  profligacy,  went  together  so  much  that  the  early 
Church  reacted  to  the  extreme  of  Puritanism — forgetting  that  her 


8         .  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Lord  and  Master  had  often  worshipped  in  the  full-choired  temple 
itself.  In  the  catacombs,  where  every  manner  of  ordinary  symbol 
may  be  found,  there  is  neither  pipe  nor  harp,  nor  any  sort  of 
musical  instrument — the  lyre  alone  excepted.  But  neither  is  there 
any  condescension  to  beauty  in  form  or  color.  Everything  be 
tokens  a  rude,  uncultivated  simplicity — a  piety  which  contented 
itself  with  the  barest  and  meagerest  representations.  It  rose  high 
enough  to  portray  the  face  of  Christ,  in  the  ancient  cemetery  of 
Domitilla,  and  in  one  carving  on  a  sarcophagus  of  the  fourth  cen 
tury.  And,  remembering  how  repugnant  anything  heathenish 
was  to  the  souls  of  those  who  associated  pipe  and  tabret  and  harp 
with  the  bloody  arena  and  the  wild  revelry  of  Rome,  can  we  doubt 
why  they  mingled  only  their  unassisted  voices  in  these  chants  of 
praise  ?  It  can  be  positively  added  that  Ambrose,  Basil,  and 
Chrysostom  do  not  include  instrumental  music  in  their  eulogies 
of  the  Church's  practice  upon  this  theme. 

We  are  justified,  however,  in  going  one  step  beyond  this  bald 
statement,  that  the  early  Christians  sang  together.  They  sang 
secum  invicem,  alternately.  The  quotations  already  given  show 
the  adaptation  of  their  hymns  to  this  use.  In  this,  at  least,  they 
were  following  the  Jewish  habit  of  responses  and  part-singing, 
whatever  other  changes  their  poverty  or  prejudices  or  principles  or 
persecutions  might  have  produced. 

It  remains  for  us  to  speak  of  the  ancient  hymns  which  have 
come  down  to  our  day.  We  have  some  information  as  to  Har- 
monius  and  Bardesanes,  who  wrote  Syriac  hymns  in  the  first  cen 
tury,  but  the  hymns  themselves  are  either  lost  or  unidentified. 
Ephrem  Syrus  (died  378)  furnishes  the  earliest  authentic  hymns  in 
that  language.  One  of  these  (Daniel,  Thesaurus  Hymnologicus, 
III.  145)  is  on  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord,  and  may  be  thus  ren 
dered,  following  Zingerle's  German  version  : 

"  Into  his  arms  with  tender  love 

Did  Joseph  take  his  holy  son, 
And  worshipped  him  as  God,  and  saw 

The  babe  like  any  little  one. 
His  heart  rejoiced  above  him  there, 

For  now  the  only  Good  had  birth  ; 
And  pious  fear  upon  him  came 

Before  this  Judge  of  all  the  earth. 
Oh,  what  a  lofty  wonder  ! 


THE  PRAISE  SERVICE  OF  THE  EARLY  CHURCH.        9 

"  Who  gave  me  then  this  precious  Son 

Of  highest  God,  to  be  my  child  ? 
For  I  against  thy  mother  here 

Had  almost  been  by  zeal  beguiled  ; 
And  I  had  thought  to  cast  her  off — 

Alas,  I  saw  not  truly  then 
How  in  her  bosom  she  should  bear 

The  costliest  treasure  known  to  men, 
To  make  my  poverty,  so  soon, 

The  richest  lot  in  mortal  ken  ! 

"  David,  that  king  of  ancient  days, 

My  ancestor,  had  placed  the  crown 
On  his  own  head,  and  there  it  lay  ; 

But  I  sank  deep  and  further  down  : 
I  was  no  king,  but  in  its  stead 

A  carpenter,  and  that  alone. 
But  now  may  crown  my  brow  again    • 

That  which  befits  a  kingly  throne, 
For  here  upon  my  bosom  lies 

The  Lord  of  lords,  my  very  own  !" 

There  is  a  trifle  of  doubt  as  to  which  is  the  very  oldest  Greek 
hymn.  One  cited  by  Basil  (died  379), 

"  4>GJf  'ikapbv  ay'iag  do!-f]<;" — K.  r.  A. 

has  been  by  some  considered  the  most  ancient,  and  is  known  to 
us  as,  "  Hail,  gladdening  Light"  It  is  wrongly  credited  to 
Athenagenes  (died  169),  for  Basil  explicitly  denies  that  authorship. 
That  which  it  is  safest  for  us  to  -receive  is  one  found  in  the  works 
of  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  by  him  ascribed  to  an  earlier 
author.  It  was  probably  composed  about  200  A.D.  ;  and  while  it 
is  too  long  to  quote,  it  may  be  characterized  as  dithyrambic,  and 
almost  Anacreontic,  in  rhythm.  It  begins  : 

"  2royu/ov  truXuv  adativ." — K.  T.  7,. 

and  is  known  as  "  Shepherd  of  Tender  Youth,"  from  its  best 
English  version,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  H.  M.  Dexter,  of  Boston.  The 
4>c3?  tXapov  is  also  accessible  in  Longfellow's  beautiful  transla 
tion  in  the  Golden  Legend,  commencing,  "  O  gladsome  light." 

As  we  turn  the  pages  on  which  Daniel  and  Mone  have  recorded 
these  hymns  of  the  earliest  age  of  the  Church,  we  observe  that 
they  are  either  in  praise  of  Christ  or  of  God,  or  are  songs  of  wor- 


10  LATIN  HYMNS. 

ship  for  the  morning  or  the  evening.     Their  simplicity  is  admir 
able.     Here  is  one  called  T/^O?  —  an  "  Echo"  —  literally  rendered  : 

"  We  who  have  risen  from  our  sleep 
Worship  before  thee,  O  Good  One. 
And,  of  the  angels  the  hymn 
We  cry  aloud  to  thee,  thou  Mighty  One  ; 
Holy,  holy  art  thou,  O  God, 
And  of  thy  mercy  have  pity  on  us  ! 

"  From  my  couch  and  from  my  sleep 
Thou  hast  raised  me,  O  Lord  ; 
Enlighten  my  mind  and  my  heart, 
And  open  thou  my  lips 
To  praise  thee,  Holy  Trinity, 
Holy,  holy,  holy  art  thou  ! 

"  Suddenly  shall  come  the  Judge, 

And  the  deeds  of  each  shall  be  laid  bare  ; 

But  guard  us  from  fear  in  the  midst  of  the  night, 

Holy,  holy,  holy  art  thou  !" 

Another  of  these  unplaced,    anonymous,    and    possibly    very 
ancient  hymns,  may  be  given  in  full  for  comparison  : 


'Avdara,  T'L 
To  reXog  ey 
Kat  fjiiT^Eiq  Qopvftsla&ai  ; 


w,  iva 
aov  Xpiarbf 
'O  Geof  ,  6  navraxov 
Kal  TO,  •Ka.vra  ir' 


"  O  soul  of  mine,  O  soul  of  mine, 

Arise,  why  sleepest  thou  ? 
The  end  of  earth  is  drawing  near 

And  art  thou  fearful  now  ? 
Be  sober  therefore,  O  my  soul, 

That  He  who  filleth  space 
And  filleth  time,  our  Saviour,  God, 

May  spare  thee  by  His  grace." 

And  this  beautiful  little  doxology  : 

"  My  hope  is  God, 

My  refuge  is  the  Lord, 

My  shelter  is  the  Holy  Ghost  ; 

Be  thou,  O  Holy  Three,  adored  !' 


THE  PRAISE  SERVICE  OF  THE  EARLY  CHURCH.      II 

In  such  sweet  and  simple  language  did  the  early  Christians  sing 
their  "  praise  to  Christ,  as  God."  They  understood  the  true 
meaning  of  a  hymn  as  Ambrose  and  St.  Bernard  also  understood 
it — and  as  Gregory  Nazianzen  and  Adam  of  St.  Victor  never  knew 
it  at  all.  In  1866  Professor  Coppee  could  truly  declare  that  there 
was  no  collection  of  sacred  verse  in  which  this  thought  of  adoration 
and  of  worship  was  "  the  leading  feature."  It  is  better  now; 
but  even  to  day  there  is  an  honored  place  for  any  book  of  praise 
in  which  the  formal  and  didactic  shall  be  done  away,  and  where 
nothing  shall  be  found  but  the  pure  reverence  of  a  loving  and 
trusting  soul. 

Of  old,  in  the  temple,  there  was  kept — said  the  rabbins — a 
flute  of  reed,  plain  and  straight  and  simple,  but  of  marvellous 
sweetness.  It  came  down  from  Moses'  day.  But  the  king  com 
manded  his  goldsmiths  to  cover  and  adorn  it  with  gold  and  gems. 
And,  lo,  the  sweetness  of  the  reed  flute  was  forever  gone  !  Thus, 
perchance,  in  our  later  art  and  our  foolish  wisdom,  it  may  be  we 
have  often  spoiled  the  ancient  hymns  ! 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE    STUDY    OF    THE    LATIN    HYMNS. 

THE  genealogy  of  the  song  of  praise  in  the  mediaeval  and  mod 
ern  Christian  Church  is  both  simple  and  beautiful.  It  begins  far 
back,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  chants  and  psalms  of  the  Hebrew. 
Then  it  changes  to  the  Syriac  and  the  Greek.  Then  it  emerges 
into  the  Latin.  Next  it  is  caught  up  in  the  old  High- German 
poetry,  and  at  length  it  becomes  the  modern  English  hymn.  •  The 
line  of  direct  descent  is  like  that  of  some  high  and  puissant  family 
whose  inheritance  is  transferred  now  to  one  branch  and  now  to 
another,  but  whose  noble  lineage  is  never  lost. 

When  the  reader  or  the  worshipper  is  attracted  to-day  by  some 
ancient  hymn-writer's  name,  he  naturally  asks  for  information. 
He  is  aware  that  hymnology  is  called  a  branch  of  study,  like  any 
other  scholastic  pursuit.  He  is  also  aware  that  the  more  usual 
English  and  German  hymns  have  their  historians,  and,  to  a  limited 
degree,  that  they  have  been  analyzed,  classified,  compared,  and 
their  text  settled.  Even  their  impelling  causes  and  surroundings 
are  known,  as  in  the  case  of  the  touching  lyrics  of  George  Neu- 
mark  and  Paul  Gerhardt,  or  the  pathetic  strains  of  Cowper,  or  the 
stirring  notes  of  Charles  Wesley. 

But  occasionally  a  bird  of  strange  plumage  flies  across  this 
peaceful  sky  or  perches  and  sings  in  these  religious  groves.  The 
name  of  some  Greek  father — an  Anatolius  or  a  John  of  Damascus 
— appears  as  the  original  author.  The  hymn-horizon  widens  out 
to  an  earlier  age.  When  one  sings  the  Te  Dcum  Laudamus,  he 
discovers  that  it  has  its  antecedent  in  the  Greek  liturgy.  And 
when  he  employs  that  fine  version  of  Bishop  Patrick, 

"  O  God,  we  praise  Thee  and  confess," 

he  is  put  upon  a  track  of  inquiry  by  which  he  discerns  an  even 
earlier  rendering  in  the  oldest  prayer-books,  beginning — 


THE   STUDY  OF   THE  LATIN  HYMNS.  13 

"  We  praise  Thee,  God,  we  knowledge  Thee 
The  only  Lord  to  be." 

These  little  hints  and  stray  gleams  of  outlook  through  the  mists  of 
uninformation  are  intensely  alluring.  And  when  by  some  happy 
chance  it  is  learned  that  this  old  Latin  sequence  is  traditionally 
ascribed  to  Ambrose,  Bishop  of  Milan  ;  when  it  is  accredited  to 
the  spontaneous  utterance  of  Augustine  and  his  great  preceptor  at 
the  time  of  Augustine's  baptism  ;  when  it  is  noted  as  a  derivative 
from  that  Greek  psalmody  whence  the  holy  Ambrose  obtained  so 
many  of  his  hymns  ;  and  when  it  opens  thus  a  door  into  the 
heaven  of  the  earlier  worship  of  the  Church,  then  indeed  the  reader 
is  proportionately  stimulated  to  further  question. 

For  the  most  part  it  will  be  found  that  the  Latin  language  con 
tains  the  best  of  the  Greek,  and  the  inspiration  of  the  majority  of  , 
the  first  German  hymns.     In  the  dead  ark  of  the  Middle  Ages  \ 
was  kept  this  rod  that  budded  and  this  golden  pot  with  its  sacred  * 
heavenly  food.     It  is  amazing  that  this  treasure  has  been  so  well 
preserved,  but  it  is  none  the  less  certain  that  we  now  have  it  safely, 
never  to  be  lost  again. 

There  are  no  Latin  hymns — let  us  here  say — earlier  than  Hilary 
of  Poitiers  (died  366).  His  Hymnarium  has  perished,  and  all  but 
one  of  the  compositions  attributed  to  himself  are  doubtful.  The 
"  evening-song"  which  he  sent  to  his  daughter  Abra,  while  he 
was  in  exile  among  the  followers  of  the  Eastern  Church,  forms  the 
connecting  link  between  Greek  and  Latin  hymnody.  The  true 
hymn—  a  different  thing  from  the  rhythmic  but  unmetrical  sequence 
— here  takes  its  rise.  In  this  small,  pure  fountain-head  reappear 
the  percolating  praises  of  the  two  previous  centuries.  The  short 
lines  drop  with  a  gentle  tinkling  melody  upon  the  ear.  As  yet 
there  is  no  rhyme,  although  there  is  an  occasional  lightening  of 
the  lyric  by  some  such  verbal  art. 

But  with  Ambrose  the  full  stream  begins  to  sweep  along.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  many  ungathered  and  traditional  stanzas 
were  in  his  time  discoverable  in  the  Church — much  as  it  can  be 
observed  that  phrases  in  prayer  or  in  exhortation  are  the  inheritance 
of  our  own  generation  from  days  of  struggle  and  of  trial  among 
our  Christian  ancestors.  And  what  better  could  a  beleaguered 
bishop  do,  when  he  was  shut  up  in  a  church  "  for  the  word  of 
God  and  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ,"  than  to  collate  these  old 


14  LATIN  HYMNS. 

hymns  ?  Twelve  possibly — eight,  or  less,  with  moderate  cer 
tainty — can  be  regarded  as  of  his  own  composition.  The  rest 
of  the  ninety  or  a  hundred  are  commonly  received  as  "  Am- 
brosian,"  since  they  share  his  spirit  and  partake  in  some  de 
gree  of  his  method.  The  rules  of  the  Venerable  Bede  are  not 
infallible,  and  modern  criticism  frequently  rejects  what  the  ear 
ly  collectors  are  disposed  to  assign  to  this  single  illustrious 
source. 

Augustine  wrote  no  actual  hymns,  but  he  was  the  cause  of 
hymns  in  others — as,  notably,  in  the  case  of  Cardinal  Peter  Damiani. 
The  Ambrosian  music  and  the  Augustinian  theology  served  for 
inspiration  to  many  later  men.  Yet  the  assignment  of  these  Latin 
hymns  to  their  proper  authors  is,  at  the  best,  a  most  precarious 
undertaking.  A  few,  quoted  or  mentioned  by  competent  wit 
nesses — as  when  Augustine  quotes  Ambrose — seem  duly  authentic. 
This  is,  however,  a  rare  occurrence.  Generally  we  proceed  upon 
the  mere  dictum  of  the  first  compilers — especially  of  Thomasius, 
George  Fabricius,  and  Clichtove. 

These  early  compilations  are  sufficiently  scarce.  Professor 
Dr.  H.  Ad.  Daniel  gives  a  list  of  some  which,  except  for  the 
books  of  "  the  venerable  Thilo"  in  the  Yale  Library,  are  beyond 
the  reach  of  American  students.  Dating  from  1492  and  running 
into  the  first  decade  of  the  sixteenth  century  there  were  many 
"  Expositions"  of  hymns,  of  which  the  work  of  Clichtove  (Basle, 
1517)  remains  to  us  in  the  greatest  number  of  editions.  Up  to 
the  middle  of  the  present  century  this  book  was  practically  indis 
pensable  to  any  correct  knowledge  of  the  original  texts.  Since 
that  time  it,  as  well  as  every  similar  work,  has  received  attention, 
and  its  contents  have  been  often  reproduced. 

Other  and  later  laborers  are  such  as  Cardinal  Thomasius 
(Rome,  1741),  who  follows  upon  the  traces  of  George  Cassander, 
the  Liberal  Catholic  (Paris,  1 6 1 6).  We  are  possibly  more  indebted 
to  Cassander  than  to  Thomasius  for  the  correct  designation  of  a  good 
deal  of  the  authorship.  Both  of  these  editors  collate  the  text  with 
other  versions,  and  thus  prepare  the  way  for  later  and  more  accu 
rate  work.  Both  depend  to  a  notable  degree  upon  the  book  of 
George  Fabricius  (Basle,  1564),  which  is  quite  rare;  although 
Thomasius'  works  are  said  by  Daniel  to  be  sufficiently  uncommon 
in  Germany,  as  they  certainly  are  in  America.  The  recent  repub- 


THE   STUDY  OF   THE  LATIN  HYMNS.  15 

lication  of  the  Mozarabic  Breviary  in  J.   P.  Migne's  Patrologia 
brings  this  volume,  however,  within  easy  reach. 

Thus  we  are  naturally  led  to  speak  of  the  sources  of  the  hymns 
themselves — sources  from  which  these  editors  have  secured  them. 
As  a  part  of  religious  worship  they  were  incorporated  into  the 
various  breviaries,  of  which  hundreds  must  have  been  in  use  before 
the  unification  begun  by  the  Church  of  Rome  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  Besides  these  church  books,  there  were  collections  of 
hymns  alone  made  by  mediaeval  schools,  whose  manuscripts  still  v 
exist  in  European  libraries. 

The  only  method  by  which  to  ascertain  the  number  and  extent 
of  these  treasures  was  to  gather  and  classify  them.  And  strangely 
enough  this  labor  has  been  performed  by  Protestants  rather  than 
by  Catholics.  Cassander's  book  was  forbidden  at  Rome,  as  he  was 
what  now  would  be  called  an  Old  Catholic  ;  Luther,  George  Fa- 
bricius,  and  Hermann  Bonn  were  in  no  better  odor  of  sanctity  ;  and 
for  our  own  times  the  standard  work  is  that  of  Herman  Adelbert 
Daniel,  who  was  a  Lutheran  professsor  at  Halle,  while  close 
behind  him  come  several  others  of  the  same  religious  belief. 

The  necessary  and  highly  difficult  task  of  getting  the  materials 
together  has  been  exhaustively  performed.  Professor  Daniel's 
investigations  extended  to  the  original  copies  in  monasteries  and 
abbeys  almost  without  number.  But  F.  J.  Mone  enlarged  even 
upon  this.  Daniel's  Thesaurus  in  five  volumes  was  completed  in 
1856 — having  been  several  years  in  course  of  publication — and  it 
stands  as  yet  unrivalled.  Mone's  Lateinische  Hymnen  des  Mil- 
lelalters  appeared  in  1853-55,  an^  was  therefore  available  for  the  con 
clusion  of  Daniel's  great  work.  Its  value  consists  in  the  fact  that 
it  is  derived  exclusively  from  manuscripts  and  from  material  hitherto 
untouched.  The  Germans,  indeed,  have  made  Latin  hymnology 
a  special  branch  of  study,  considering  that  it  is  profitable  to  them 
for  its  value  religiously  and  historically.  From  old  Flacius 
Illyricus'  appendix  to  the  Catalogus  Testium  Veritatis  has  been 
recovered  the  original  of  Bernard  of  Cluny's  "  Jerusalem  the 
Golden" — a  poem  which  would  never  have  been  known  by  us  if 
this  same  Matthias  Flacius  had  not  preserved  it  as  a  testimony 
against  the  corrupt  state  of  the  Church. 

We  must  then  add  the  German  names  of  Schlosser,  and  Simrock, 
and  Fortlage,  and  Stadelmann,  and  Jacob  Grimm,  and  Konigsfeld, 


1 6  LATIN  HYMNS. 

and  Bassler,  and  Kayser,  and  Kehrein,  and  Morel.  Wackernagel 
and  Koch,  the  great  historians  of  German  hymnology,  have  also 
done  admirable  service  in  prefixing  the  Latin  hymns  to  the  earlier 
part  of  their  collections  and  histories  of  German  praise.  There  is 
a  host  of  lesser  names,  and  there  have  been  some  separate  discov 
eries  worthy  of  note.  Thus  the  English  ritualists,  under  the  lead 
of  Newman  and  Neale,  unearthed  some  capital  lyrics.  The 
Hymni  Ecclesia  of  Cardinal  J.  H.  Newman,  being  half  derived 
from  the  Paris  Breviary,  contain  hymns  which  are  scarcely  to  be 
found  elsewhere — many  of  them,  as  our  Index  will  show,  being 
accessible  only  in  those  pages.  The  Sequentiae  Medii  Aezri  ot  Dr. 
John  Mason  Neale  also  bring  to  us  texts  which  are  extremely 
scarce.  Archbishop  Trench,  in  his  collection  of  eighty  hymns, 
has  avoided  anything  like  Romanism  even  to  the  occasional  ex 
purgation  of  a  phrase  ;  but  he  has  given  us  a  few  hymns  which 
are  difficult  to  procure.  KSnigsfeld's  selection  of  one  hundred  is  ad 
mirable  ;  and  Bassler' s  and  Simrock's  little  books  have  made  a  very 
good  choice.  More  recently  still  Professor  F.  A.  March,  of 
Lafayette  College,  has  prepared  a  selection  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  of  these  hymns  for  the  use  of  institutions  of  learning  ;  and 
this,  for  every  purpose,  is  the  finest  and  most  satisfactory  series 
of  texts  at  our  command.  The  ordinary  student  can  learn  much 
from  this  before  he  needs  to  attempt  the  larger  and  more  ex 
pensive  works. 

In  making  an   exhaustive  index  of  all  the  originals  before  us, 

[these  collections  soon  dwindle  into  a  very  diminutive  form. 
There  are  about  three  thousand  five  hundred  hymns  in  the 
various  books.  And  they  are  of  all  sorts — good,  bad,  and  indiffer 
ent  The  good  are  the  pure  and  true  utterance  of  pious  spirits — 
such  lyrics  as  the  Veni,  Redemplor,  and  the  Veni,  Sancte  Spiriius, 
and  the  Vexilla  Regis.  The  positively  bad  are  those  which  are 
either  poor  in  execution — a  common  fault — or  decidedly  defective 
in  religious  tone.  Many  so-called  "  hymns"  are  nothing  but 
plagiaries  or  parodies  upon  older  compositions.  Some  are  debased 
into  mere  patchwork.  There  are  a  few  which  are  macaronic,  and 
a  great  many  in  which  poverty  of  phrase  is  helped  out  by  whole 
sale  pilfering.  Moreover,  it  is  easy  to  find  those  which  are  highly 
objectionable  in  point  of  taste  and  theology,  to  say  nothing  of 
prosody  or  Protestantism.  And  if  Protestants  are  principally 


THE    STUDY  OF    THE  LATIN  HYMNS.  17 

energetic  in  restoring  and  editing  these  hymns,  to  the  frank  and 
generous  extent  of  overlooking  what  is  unpleasant  in  them,  it 
ought  to  follow  that  they  should  not  be  blamed  for  preferring  only 
those  lyrics  in  which  the  broad  and  Christian  fervor  of  devout 
souls  can  be  observed. 

Of  those  hymns  which  are  upon  the  border  line,  the  pathetic 
Stabat  Maler  may  stand  as  an  example.  It  would  be  bigotry  to 
reject  it  from  the  list — as  one  compiler  has  done — while  it  would 
certainly  not  be  fair  to  Protestants  to  utilize  it,  in  any  close  trans 
lation,  for  the  worship  of  the  Church  universal. 

Perhaps  there  are  not  less  than  from  four  to  five  hundred  of 
these  hymns,  then,  to  which  no  cause  of  blame  can  attach — which 
are  as  dear  to  the  Church  of  the  Roman  Catholics  as  to  that  of  the 
Catholic  Protestants.  On  such  common  ground  the  heartiest 
sympathy  and  co-operation  can  develop  the  riches  which  yet  re 
main.  Already  it  is  Caswall,  the  priest,  and  Newman,  the 
cardinal,  and  Neale,  the  ritualist,  who  have  given  to  our  daily 
praise  the  happiest  versions.  It  is  Ozanam  who  has  discovered 
several  unknown  hymns  ;  and  Gautier  and  Digby  S.  Wrangham 
who  have  brought  out  A.dam  of  St.  Victor  ;  and  the  ninety-seven 
pieces  of  Abaelard  are  reprinted  from  Cousin's  text  in  Migne's 
Palrologia.  The  study  of  these  sacred  verses  has  been  compar 
atively  limited  in  range  and  nationality,  but  it  has  had  the  incom 
parable  advantage  of  being  thorough. 

Thus  we  are  to-day  possessed  of  the  text  of  every  really  fine 
sacred  Latin  lyric.  Somewhere  or  other  it  has  bloomed  and  has 
been  gathered  by  some  acute  hymnologist.  The  text,  too,  is 
tolerably  clarified.  Translations  into  our  own  tongue  have  been 
made  by  such  men  as  Caswall  and  Newman  and  Neale  (who  have 
rendered  all  the  hymns  of  the  Roman  Breviary),  and  by  Mant, 
Chandler,  Pearson,  Kynaston,  and  many  others.  In  America  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Washburn,  Dr.  Coles,  and  Chancellor  Benedict  have 
been  as  prolific  as  any.  Scattered  renderings  have  obtained  place 
in  various  hymnals.  And  we  are  now  prepared  at  last  for  the 
general  and  popular  interest  which  should  be  taken  in  this  vast 
treasure  of  the  Latin  tongue. 

Nothing  is  more  surprising  than  the  utter  misinformation  which 
prevails.  A  few  scholars,  like  Dr.  Schaff  and  Dr.  William  R. 
Williams,  have  endeavored  to  illuminate  our  Americaa  darkness. 


1 8  LATIN  HYMNS. 

But,  speaking  only  now  of  the  Latin  hymns,  the  story  of  their 
authors  remains  obscure  and  the  romantic  history  of  their  origin 
remains  for  the  most  part  untouched. 

Yet  Prudentius,  the  Spaniard,  was  a  classic  survival  in  Spain. 
And  Damasus,  the  pope,  was  associated  with  certain  dramatic 
scenes.  And  Venantius  Fortunatus,  troubadour  and  bishop,  fur 
nishes  us  with  a  most  striking  portrait  of  the  times  in  his  attach 
ment  to  the  abbess-queen,  Radegunda.  The  list  presumably 
includes  Elpis,  the  wife  of  Bcethius,  the  "  last  of  the  Romans  ;" 
and  Co3lius  Sedulius,  the  Briton  ;  and  Gregory  the  Great  and 
the  great  archbishop,  Rabanus  Maurus,  and  perhaps  Robert  II. 
of  France.  It  calls  into  fresh  life  the  histories  of  the  Venerable 
Bede  and  of  Alcuin  ;  of  the  two  Bernards,  the  one  of  Clairvaux 
and  the  other  of  Cluny  ;  of  Peter  the  Venerable  and  of  Abaelard 
and  Heloise  ;  of  Adam  of  St.  Victor,  and  Thomas  of  Celano  ;  of 
Bonaventura  and  Aquinas  and  a  Kempis  and  Xavier.  It  shows 
us  that  mad  Solomon,  poor  Jacoponus  ;  and  it  leaves  us  with  verses 
from  John  Huss,  the  martyr,  to  be  read  by  the  light  of  the  Refor 
mation's  dawn. 

Thus  largely  does  the  subject  of  the  Latin  hymns  traverse  the 
ages.  From  the  fourth  to  the  sixteenth  centuries  of  the  Christian 
era  it  is  the  one  stream  which  was  fed  from  Alpine  or  from  Pyre- 
nean  snows — a  "  river  of  God  that  is  full  of  water,"  which  ex 
pands  into  the  stately  movement  of  the  Notkerian  and  Gott- 
schalkian  sequence,  or  gently  murmurs  its  song  of  trust  with  the 
missionary  Xavier  as  he  writes  the  exquisite  melody  of  that  hymn, 
O  Deus,  ego  amo  te  I  To  understand  and  to  love  these  lyrics  is 
to  be  better  fitted  for  this  nineteenth  century  of  praise.  Not  the 
persecutors  and  the  injurious,  not  the  cruel  and  the  cold-hearted 
will  then  remain  to  us ;  but  the  Dies  Ira  will  utter  its  trumpet- 
voice  above  the  dead  phrases  of  a  formal  service,  and  the  Salve 
caput  cruentatum  will  call  us  afresh  to  the  foot  of  the  cross. 


CHAPTER  III. 

HILARY    OF    POITIERS    AND    THE    EARLIEST    LATIN    HYMNS. 

WHEN  Master  Peter  Abaslard  was  preparing  his  own  hymns  for  > 
use  in  the  Abbey  of  the  Paraclete,  he  prefaced  them  with  a  brief 
treatise.     There  were  ninety-three  of  them,  arranged  for  all  the 
services  of  Heloise  and  her  nuns,  and  he  answers  the  request  of 
his  abbess-wife  by  sending  them,  somewhere  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  year  1135.      "At  the  instance  of  thy  requests,  my  sister 
Heloise,"  he  writes,  "  formerly  dear  in  the  world  and  now  most 
dear  in  Christ,  I  have  composed  what  are  called  in  Greek,  '  hymns,' 
and  in  Hebrew,  '  tillim.'  '       For  it  is  plain  that  she  has  a  vivid 
recollection  of  his  "  wild,    unhallowed  rhymes,  writ  in  his  un-   ; 
baptized  times,"  and  she  would  now  have  him  tune  his  lyre,  as   : 
Robert  Herrick  did,  to  a  loftier  strain. 

Hence  he  made  for  these  gentle  sisters  a  hymn-book  of  their 
own,  and  so  became  the  Watts  or  Wesley  of  their  matins  and 
vespers.  With  characteristic  self-confidence  he  only  included 
what  he  had  himself  prepared  ;  but  this  introduction  casts  a  great 
deal  of  light  upon  the  knowledge  and  piety  of  the  time  respecting 
hymns. 

"  I  remember,"  continues  Abaelard,  "  that  you  asked  me  for 
an  explanation.      '  We  know,'   you  said,   '  that  the  Latin,  and 
especially  the  French  Church,  have  in  psalms,  and  also  in  hymns, 
followed  more  a  custom  than  an  authority.'  "     This  was  quite 
true  ;  and  the  remark  is  eminently  characteristic  of  Heloise,  whose 
scholarship  was  admirable,  and  whose  disposition  was  of  a  sort  to 
crave  for  and  cling  to  a  stronger  nature.     He  then  quotes  for  her  I 
the  decree  of  the  fourth  Council  of  Toledo  (A.D.  633),  by  which! 
Hilary  of  Poitiers  and  Ambrose  of  Milan  are  established  as  the! 
great  fathers  of  Christian  song  in  the  Western  Church,  and  by\ 
which  the  praise  of  God  in  hymns  is  sanctioned  and  commended. 

To  much  the  same  effect  are  the  words  of  Augustine  of  Hippo, 
centuries  earlier.  His  beloved  mother,  Monica,  had  died,  and 


20  LATIN  HYMNS. 

nothing  appeared  to  comfort  him  so  much  as  one  of  these  same 
holy  songs.  "Then  I  slept,  and  woke  up  again  and  found  my 
grief  not  a  little  softened  ;  and  as  I  was  alone  in  my  bed,  I 
remembered  those  true  verses  of  thy  Ambrose.  For  thou  art  the 

"  '  Maker  of  all,  the  Lord 

And  Ruler  of  the  height, 
Who,  robing  day  in  light,  hast  poured 

Soft  slumbers  o'er  the  night. 
That  to  our  limbs  the  power 

Of  toil  may  be  renewed, 
And  hearts  be  raised  that  sink  and  cower, 

And  sorrows  be  subdued.'  " 

This  is  the  Deus  creator  omnium  of  the  great  bishop  of  Milan  ; 
and  this,  in  consequence  of  Augustine's  quotation,  is  among  the 
best  authenticated  and  earliest  hymns  of  the  Latin  Church. 

But  there  were  more  ancient  hymns  than  the  Ambrosian  or 
Augustinian.  They  bear  the  name  of  Hilary,  and  with  them 
Latin  hymnology  really  begins.  It  is  true  that  in  the  previous 
century — the  third — Cyprian  of  Carthage  had  written  religious 
poetry,  but  he  composed  nothing  which  could  be  sung.  There 
is,  indeed,  nothing  previous  to  Hilary. 

And  now  let  us  go  back  to  the  creation  of  this  first  and  noblest 
light  For  Hilary  had  been  a  heathen — a  heathen  of  the  heathen 
— in  Roman  Gaul.  He  was  born  in  Poitiers  (Pictavium)  about 
the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century.  His  father's  name  was 
Francarius,  whose  tomb — although  he  must  at  first  have  lived  as 
an  idolater — is  said  by  Bouchet  to  have  been  "  for  upward  of 
fifteen  hundred  years"  in  the  parish  church  of  Clissonium  (Clisson, 
near  Nantes).  We  are  indebted  to  Jerome  for  the  main  facts 
of  Hilary's  life,  and  to  Fortunatus  for  a  large  share  in  the  filling 
up  of  the  outlines.  Hilary  was  so  celebrated  a  man  that  contem 
porary  references  are  more  abundant  and  helpful  in  his  career  even 
:  than  in  that  of  Shakespeare.  In  those  days  he  was  at  the  summit 
':of  renown,  a  notable  exception  to  the  case  of  the  prophet,  "  not 
being  without  honor  save  in  his  own  country."  "  For  who," 
says  Augustine,  "does  not  know  Hilary  the  Gallic  bishop?" 
And  Jerome  wrote  to  St.  Eustacia  that  Hilary  and  Cyprian  were 
the  "  two  great  cedars  of  the  age." 

He  was  doubtless  well  educated.     His  Latin  was  good  and 


;*• 

HILARY  OF  POITIERS.  21 

copious,  without  possessing  very  great  polish.  His  Greek  was 
sufficient  to  fit  him  to  translate  the  creeds  of  the  Eastern  Church, 
and  to  become  familiar  with  their  hymns.  We  have  his  own 
testimony  that  he  lived  in  comfort,  if  not  in  luxury  ;  and  the 
inference  is  plain  that  his  family  were  of  consequence  in  the 
place.  It  was  in  his  leisure  that  he  took  up  Moses  and  the 
prophets  ;  and  there,  in  that  famous  old  town  of  his  birth,  the 
mists  of  his  idolatry  thinned  away.  We  do  not  know  that  any 
external  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  upon  his  mind,  or  that  he 
was  led  by  anything  except  a  natural  curiosity  into  this  ne\v 
learning. 

Poitiers  itself  is  a  noble  situation  for  such  an  intellect.  It  is 
perched  on  a  promontory,  and  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  gorges 
and  narrow  valleys.  The  isthmus,  which  joins  it  back  to  the 
ridge,  was  once  walled  and  ditched  across.  The  Pictavi,  and 
afterward  the  Romans,  understood  the  military  advantages  of  the 
spot.  It  has  always  been  the  abode  of  scholars  and  of  warriors. 
Here  Francis  Bacon  once  studied.  Here  Clovis,  founder  of  the 
Merovingian  dynasty,  beat  Alaric  II.,  in  507,  in  fair  battle.  Here 
Radegunda  the  Holy  lies  buried.  Here  Fortunatus,  the  poet- 
bishop,  dwelled.  Here  Charles  Martel  hammered  the  Saracens  in 
732.  Here,  in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Pierre,  rest  the  ashes  of 
Richard  Cceur  de  Lion.  Here,  beneath  these  walls,  fought 
Edward  the  Black  Prince  against  King  John  of  France,  in  1356, 
when  the  English  had  the  best  of  the  day.  For  they  had  learned 
— as  Bishop  Hugh  Latimer  says  that  he  himself  was  taught — how 
to  draw  the  cloth-yard  shaft  to  a  head,  and  let  it  fly  with  a  deadly 
aim.  "In  my  tyme,"  said  Latimer,  "my  poore  father  was  as 
diligent  to  teach  me  to  shote  as  to  learne  anye  other  thynge,  and 
so  I  thynke  other  menne  dyd  theyr  children.  Hee  taughte  me 
how  to  drawe,  how  to  laye  my  bodye  in  my  bowe,  and  not  to  drawe 
with  strength  of  armes  as  other  nacions  do,  but  with  strength  of 
the  bodye.  I  had  my  bowes  boughte  me  accordyng  to  my  age 
and  strength  ;  as  I  encreased  in  them,  so  my  bowes  were  made 
bigger  and  bigger  ;  for  men  shall  never  shoot  well  excepte  they  be 
broughte  up  in  it."  (Sixth  sermon  before  Edward  VI.)  It  was 
such  archery  as  this  that  laid  the  flower  of  France  in  the  dust,  and 
put  John,  their  king,  into  prison. 

Poitiers  is  thus  a  noble  and  appropriate  birthplace  for  one  who 


22  LATIN  HYMNS. 

before  the  time  of  Charles  the  Hammerer  was  called  the  "  Hammer 
of  the  Arians"  {Malleus  Arianorurn),  and  who  combined  fighting 
with  praying  all  through  his  life.  Places  and  circumstances  and 
the  untamable  blood  of  heroes  have  more  to  do  with  the  making 
of  men  than  we  suppose  ;  and  Hilary  was  so  distinctly  a  son  of 
Caesar's  Gaul  that  he  became  its  large,  true,  and  free  expres 
sion,  appropriate  to  its  landscape  and  harmonized  to  its  atmos 
phere. 

And  as  to  his  emergence  from  heathenism,  there  can  be  nothing 
more  satisfactory  to  us  than  his  own  story.  He  has  recorded  that 
when  he  found,  in  Exodus,  how  God  was  called  "  1  am  that  I  am, " 
and  when  he  read  in  Isaiah  (40  :  1 2)  of  a  deity  who  "  held  the  wind 
in  His  fists,"  and  again  (66  :  i)  of  Him  who  said,  "  Heaven  is 
My  throne  and  earth  is  My  footstool, "  then  this  Deus  immensus 
surpassed  all  his  heathen  conceptions  of  grandeur  and  power. 
And  when  he  read  (in  Ps.  138  :  7)  how  this  great  God  loved  and 
cared  for  His  children,  so  that  one  could  say,  "  Though  I  walk 
in  the  midst  of  trouble,  Thou  wilt  revive  me  ;  Thou  shall  stretch 
forth  Thine  hand  against  the  wrath  of  mine  enemies,  and  Thy 
right  hand  shall  save  me" — then  he  was  drawn  toward  this  mighty 
being  by  a  sentiment  of  confidence  and  trust.  He  also — turning 
the  pages  of  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon  (13  :  5)  in  the  Apocrypha 
— found  it  written  that  "  by  the  greatness  and  beauty  of  the 
creatures  proportionately  the  Maker  of  them  is  seen."  And  then, 
encountering  the  Gospel  of  John,  its  opening  sentences  clarified 
his  mind.  All  became  plain.  He  accepted  with  calmness,  firm 
ness,  and  dignity  the  great  doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith.  He 
was  imbued  with  John's  conception  of  that  Word,  "  which  was  in 
the  beginning"  and  "  which  was  God."  From  that  moment  he 
had  a  theology  which  was  as  pure  as  crystal  and  as  indestructible 
as  adamant.  There  is  no  muddiness  about  his  ideas  from  this 
time  onward,  though  Arians  buzz  and  sting,  and  calamities  rain 
upon  him,  and  the  path  of  duty  is  deep  with  mire  and  the  future 
is  dark.  Every  one  of  these  things  passes  away.  His  own  lan 
guage  as  to  this  great  change  in  his  belief  is  as  characteristic  as  it 
is  beautiful  :  "  I  extended  my  desires  further,  and  longed  that  the 
good  thoughts  I  had  about  God,  and  the  good  life  which  I  built 
on  them,  might  have  an  eternal  reward."  Like  one  of  his  own 
favorite  saints  in  the  Gospel  and  the  Apocalypse  of  John,  he  was 


HILARY  OF  POITIERS.  23 

thus  "  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God  "  to  become  one  of  the  chanting 
choir  before  the  throne. 

It  matters  very  little,  therefore,  to  us  of  to-day,  that,  in  1851, 
Pius  IX.,  himself  a  man  of  sweet  and  gentle  temper,  made  Hilary 
a  "  Doctor  of  the  Church" — a  distinction  reserved  for  those  great 
est  ones,  like  Augustine  and  Chrysostom,  whose  learning  and 
eloquence  are  world-renowned.  The  dead  bishop  did  not  need 
this  posthumous  distinction.  He  has  long  been  recognized — to 
quote  Professor  Dorner — as  "  one  of  the  most  original  and  pro 
found,"  albeit  not  the  easiest  to  understand  at  all  times,  of  the 
great  teachers  of  the  Christian  Church.  We  may  hereafter  attach 
more  value  to  his  work  even  than  we  do  at  present. 

This  then  was  the  man  who  had  determined  to  enter  upon  a 
Christian  life.  He  was  already  married  and  had  one  daughter — 
Abra  by  name — and  possessed  a  certain  repute  as  a  man  of  read 
ing  and  of  affairs.  His  origin  protected  him  from  a  contempt  of 
pagan  learning  ;  and  his  marriage  protected  him  from  that  one 
sided  development  which  has  Romanized  the  once  Catholic 
Church.  The  period  in  which  he  lived  was  one  of  transition — 

from  classic  literature  to  Christian  literature,  and  from  the  Latin 

' 

of  far-off  Virgil  and  Cicero  to  the  Latin  which  was  to  become  the  ' 
uniting  tongue  of  all  scholars  in  that  Babel  of  the  Middle  Ages.  : 
This  language  was  now  shaping  itself  to  its  new  work  and  becom-  . 
ing,  like  English  under  the  genius  of  Chaucer,  a  living  speech.  '. 
In  the  moulding  hands  of  these  first  Christian  writers  it  became  v 
flexible,  not  always  fluent  or  graceful  or  even  strictly  grammatical, 
but  capable  at  least  to  carry  what  would  otherwise  have  been  lost. 
Greek  was  gone,  and  French  and  German  and  English  had  not 
yet  appeared.     As  a  Gallo-Roman,   then — a  post-classic  Latinist 
— Hilary  gives  in  his  allegiance  to  Christianity,  and  his  wife  and 
daughter  are  baptized  with  him  into  the  true  faith. 

So  far  much  is  conjectural ;  and  more  is  vague  and  to  be  de 
rived  from  the  shadows  cast  upon  the  screen  of  history  by  the 
"spirit  of  the  years  to  come  yearning  to  mix  itself  with  life. " 
We  emerge,  however,  into  historical  certainty  about  the  year  351. 
Then,  on  the  death  of  their  bishop — who  is  thought  to  have  been 
Maxentius,  the  brother  of  St.  Maximin  of  Trier — his  townspeople 
clamored  for  Hilary.  The  Histoire  Litterairc  de  la  France  sets 
this  election  down  for  the  year  5  50  ;  but  that  authority,  in  this  and 


24  LATIN  HYMNS. 

a  great  many  other  instances,  is  profuse  and  multitudinous  and 
not  absolutely  safe.  We  are  certainly  not  far  out  from  the  correct 
date  in  saying  351. 

It  illustrates  a  condition  of  things  which  are  suggestive  of  the 
tsimplicity  of  the  early  Church,  when  we  find  that  in  spite  of  his 
'being  a  married  man  and  a  father — and  in  spite  of  Cyprian's  and 
of  Tertullian's  praises  of  celibacy — Hilary  was  heartily  chosen  and 
almost  forced  into  the  episcopate.  In  this  position  he  exhibited  ' '  all 
the  excellent  qualities  of  the  great  bishops."  We  are  told  that  he 
was  "  gentle  and  peaceable,  given  particularly  to  an  ability  to  per 
suade  and  to  influence."  With  these  he  joined  "  a  holy  vigor 
which  held  him  firm  against  rising  heresies."  And  Cassian  says 
that  Hilary  "  had  all  the  virtues  of  an  incomparable  man."  The 
fact,  after  all,  speaks  for  itself  more  loudly  than  these  commen 
dations.  He  was  so  much  one  of  themselves  that  the  people  of 
Poitiers  would  not  have  selected  him,  if  they  had  not  known  him 
to  be  the  best  man  for  the  mitre. 

From  this  time  began  that  career  of  stainless  honor  which  has 
outlasted  the  very  walls  which  echoed  his  voice.  He  was  known 
from  Great  Britain  to  the  Indies.  He  ranks  second  only  to 
Athanasius  as  a  defender  of  the  faith  ;  and — as  we  already  noted — 
he  is  classed  by  Jerome  with  the  great  bishop  of  Hippo  whose 
portrait  is  given  to  us  so  vividly  in  Charles  Kingsley's  Hypatia. 
And  to  us  of  our  century  and  of  our  convictions  in  favor  of  charity 
and  culture,  it  is  particularly  praiseworthy  that  he  never  gave  up 
his  secular  scholarship,  and  that  he  never  flagged  or  faltered  in 
defending  opinions  which  were  as  large  and  liberal  as  they  were 
undeniably  orthodox.  He  was  an  oak  which  stood  against  the 
blast  unshaken,  and  which  yet  held,  in  the  heart  of  its  great 
branches,  sweet  nests  of  singing  birds  and  leafy  coverts  of  shade 
and  peace. 

Hilary  was  not  suffered  to  be  inactive.  It  was  the  period  at 
which  the  Arian  heresy  was  in  full  incandescence.  No  one  hold 
ing  the  opinions  of  the  Bishop  of  Poitiers  could  well  remain 
neutral.  He  had — in  conformity  with  a  custom  soon  to  become 
a  law — separated  his  life  from  that  of  his  home  ;  but  he  appears 
always  to  have  cherished  a  warm  love  for  his  wife  and  child.  This 
placed  him,  however,  in  perfect  freedom  from  other  cares,  and  at 
liberty  to  devote  himself  to  the  eradication  of  false  doctrine.  Con- 


HILARY  OF  POITIERS.  25 

stantius,  the  Emperor,  was  an  Arian,  and  this  made  the  perplexity 
of  the  position  very  great  An  honest  man  might  ruin  all  by  his 
blunt  independence — but  an  honest  man  dare  not  be  silent  And, 
besides,  Hilary  had  neither  attended  the  Synod  of  Aries  (353)  nor 
that  of  Milan  (355),  and  was  somewhat  out  of  the  ecclesiastical  tide. 

That  he  was  no  coward  was  soon  shown  to  everybody's  satisfac 
tion.  He  prepared  a  letter  to  the  Emperor  as  brave  as  it  was 
keen,  and  which  touched  up  with  a  vigorous  lash  the  cringing 
sycophants  and  shuffling  hypocrites  about  the  court.  Hilary  is 
notably  strong  when  he  denounces  the  substitution  of  force  for 
reason — and  perhaps  his  doctorate  came  to  him  only  in  1851 
(when  he  could  not  well  care  much  for  it)  because  this  doctrine 
of  his  was  not  altogether  what  Mother  Church  has  been  in  the 
habit  of  teaching  and  practising  !  I  may  refer  to  the  recent  work 
of  the  Rev.  R.  T.  Smith  upon  The  Church  in  Roman  Gaul  as  fully 
confirming  this  statement  St.  Martin  of  Tours  is  there  called  to 
bear  testimony  that  the  Bishop  of  Poitiers  held  such  opinions  just 
as  sturdily  in  his  days  of  power  as  in  these  times  of  trial  and  perse 
cution.  He  was,  in  short,  a  thoroughly  sincere  man,  and  it  took 
him  only  a  few  years — until  355 — to  get  into  the  hottest  bubbling 
spot  of  all  the  caldron.  At  that  date,  in  company  with  other 
leaders  of  the  church  in  Gaul,  he  drove  out  a  very  pestilent  fellow 
— Saturninus,  the  Bishop  of  Aries — as  a  seditious  and  irreconcil 
able  element  in  their  midst  With  him  was  cast  out  Valens,  and 
with  Valens  was  cast  out  Ursacius.  But  of  all  these,  Bishop 
Saturninus  was  the  angriest  and  the  most  revengeful. 

A  year  of  something  like  good  order  followed,  when  lo,  the 
Arians  came  to  the  front  with  a  synod  of  their  own  complexion  at 
Beziers.  Here  Hilary  found  himself  in  the  vocative  case  alto 
gether.  The  tables  were  turned  upon  him,  and  it  was  he  who 
must  now  go  forth  a  banished  man.  The  power  was  against  him, 
and  he  set  out  with  bowed  head  and  sad  heart  upon  one  of  those 
pride-humbling  journeys  which  have  not  seldom  brought  the 
greatest  results  to  religion,  and  which  not  a  few  of  the  best  men 
have  taken  in  their  day.  In  this  manner  Bernard  went  to  meet 
Abaelard  ;  Martin  Luther  went  to  the  diet  at  Worms  ;  and  John 
Bunyan  took  his  way  to  Bedford  jail. 

Principal  among  the  causes  of  his  sadness  was  that  he  was 
snatched  away  from  his  constant  and  congenial  duty  of  explaining 


26  LATIN  HYMNS. 

the  Scriptures  to  the  people  of  his  diocese.  Still  he  had  nothing 
for  it  but  to  go  ;  and  so,  somewhere  about  356,  we  find  him  in 
Phrygia.  He  is  accompanied  by  Rodanius,  Bishop  of  Toulouse, 
who  had  plucked  up  considerable  courage  by  seeing  how  well 
Hilary  took  his  defeat. 

In  357  the  Church  in  Roman  Gaul  sent  him  their  greeting, 
from  which  that  of  his  own  Poitiers  people  was  not  absent.  And 
the  Gallic  bishops,  having  perceived  him  to  be  capable  of  much 
good  service  in  his  enforced  residence  abroad,  bade  him  inform 
himself  and  them  upon  the  creeds  and  customs  of  the  Eastern 
Church.  This  he  had  already,  to  a  degree,  undertaken.  And 
in  359,  whom  do  we  find  entering  a  convocation  of  bishops  at 
Seleucia  but  our  very  Hilary,  opposing  with  a  strong  and  un 
flinching  philosophic  power  all  those — and  there  were  many  there 
— who  denied  the  consubstantiality  of  the  Word. 

There  were  one  hundred  and  sixty  of  these  bishops  at  Seleucia, 
of  whom  one  hundred  and  five — a  very  handsome  majority — were 
"  semi-Arians."  Of  the  remaining  fifty-five  there  were  nineteen 
classed  as  Anomoeans — those  who  held  that  the  Son  was 
unlike  the  Father  in  essence,  or  avojuoioZ — and  the  rest  were 
heretics  of  different  grades  of  badness.  It  was  the  natural 
outcome  of  the  difficulties  with  Athanasius,  where  the  royal 
authority  was  on  the  side  of  the  Arians.  "The  Roman  Cath 
olic  historians  are  therefore  not  complimentary  to  this  synod 
— or  rather  "  double  council  "  of  Seleucia  and  Rimini — and  this 
was  assuredly  no  very  comfortable  body  of  Christians  for  a  ban 
ished  bishop  to  exhort  But  he  did  it  with  effect,  and  proceeded 
to  the  council  at  Constantinople  (360)  and  did  it  again  ;  and 
presently  (361)  Constantius  died  and  the  Nicene  Creed  was  vic 
torious. 

So  was  Hilary,  who — in  360-61 — returned  to  Poitiers,  where, 
as  soon  as  his  crozier  was  once  more  well  in  hand,  he  levelled 
Saturninus  and  compelled  him  to  abandon  his  diocese.  HHe  then 
turned  upon  Auxentius  of  Milan,  who  only  escaped  the  same  or 
a  worse  fate  by  clinging  to  Valentinian,  the  reigning  Emperor, 
and  was  denounced  by  Hilary  as  a  hypocrite  for  his  pains.  Our 
bishop  appears  in  these  days  to  have  been  decidedly  a  member  of 
the  Church  Militant ;  and  perhaps  it  was  natural  enough  when 
one  had  survived  the  reigns  of  Constantius,  Julian  the  Apostate, 


HILARY  OF  POITIERS.  27 

and  Jovian,  for  him  to  be  as  he  was.  I  am  not  commenting 
upon  these  exciting  scenes  ;  I  desire  rather  to  go  back  and  show 
how  they  produced  the  hymns  of  which  we  are  to  speak. 

It  was  in  357 — at  the  same  date  with  the  letters  from  the  bishops 
and  from  the  churches — that  Abra,  his  daughter,  wrote  to  him 
herself.  From  this  epistle  we  learn  that  her  mother  still  lived, 
and  we  observe  the  dutiful  and  loving  daughter  apparent  in  every 
line.  In  reply  Hilary  sends  a  well-composed  and  even  imagina 
tive  letter.  Under  the  figures  of  a  pearl  and  a  garment  he 
charges  her  to  keep  her  soul  and  her  conduct  pure.  He  rather 
recommends  a  single  life,  but  not  in  any  such  extravagant  eulogy 
of  celibacy  as  some  would  have  us  suppose.  It  is  more  after  the 
style  of  what  Grynaeus  affirmed  of  him — that  he  was  so  moderate 
in  these  opinions  as  to  suffer  his  canons  to  marry — since  it  would 
be  hard  for  an  unbiassed  mind  to  draw  any  harsh  conclusions  from 
the  language  ;  yet  all  this  is  of  small  consequence  compared  with 
the  enclosure — two  Latin  hymns,  one  for  the  morning  and  one 
for  the  evening,  which  she  may  use  in  the  worship  of  God.  The' 
first  of  these  is  the  Lucis  largitor  splendide  ;  but  the  second  is 
probably  lost  It  is  said  that  it  was  the  hymn,  Ad  coeli  clara  non 
sum  dignus  sidera — "  To  the  clear  stars  of  heaven  I  am  not  wor 
thy,"  etc.  This  is  very  doubtful  indeed,  so  much  so  that  we  may 
decline  to  receive  it  on  several  grounds.  It  is  to  be  found  in  the 
superb  folio  edition  of  Hilary's  works  (Paris,  1693)  prepared  by 
the  Benedictines  of  St.  Maur.  Yet  if  internal  evidence  is  to  weigh 
at  all  we  must  reject  it  without  scruple.  It  is  not  a  hymn  in  any 
true  sense,  and  certainly  has  no  reference  to  the  evening  hour  of 
worship.  It  contains  a  gross  phrase  or  two,  which  are  not  sugges 
tive  of  Hilary,  who  would  scarcely  have  said  that  he  would  "  de 
spise  Arius"  by  "modulating  a  hymn"  against  him,  nor  would 
he  have  spoken  of  the  "barking  Sabellius"  or  the  "grunting 
Simon."  The  verses  are  unpleasantly  flavored  with  earthliness, 
and  to  4hink  that  a  young  girl  would  be  inclined  to  sing  ninety- 
six  lines  of  an  abecedary — or  "  alphabet-hymn" — is  absurd. 
Moreover,  the  editors  of  the  edition  of  1693  only  print  four  stanzas, 
and  express  their  own  disbelief  that  Hilary  wrote  it,  based  upon 
these  facts  and  upon  their  no  less  important  criticism  of  the  style, 
which  is  masculine  throughout,  and  refers  to  ideas  highly  inappro 
priate  to  the  use  intended.  Mone  is  nearer  to  the  correct  doctrine 


28  LATIN  HYMNS. 

when  he  assigns  it  to  a  period  between  the  sixth  and  eighth  cen 
turies.  Daniel  (4  :  130)  prints  it  in  full  and  quotes  Mone's  re 
mark  that  an  Irish  monk  is  likely  to  have  been  its  author.  It  is 
in  the  metre  familiar  to  modern  eyes  in  the  Integer  vita  of  Horace, 
but  it  displays  neither  taste  nor  poetry  nor  any  religious  fervor. 
That  it  begins  each  stanza  with  a  consecutive  letter  of  the  alphabet 
is  no  proof  of  anything  except  wasted  ingenuity.  So  that,  I 
repeat,  we  do  well  to  reject  it  and  to  leave  it  rejected. 

All,  then,  that  is  left  us  is  the  Lucis  largiior  splendide — "  Thou 
splendid  giver  of  the  light. ' '  The  letter  went  back  from  Seleucia 
to  Poitiers  and  carried  this  hymn,  at  least,  with  it.  Hilary  had 
sent  this  and  its  companion,  ut  niemor  met  semper  sis — "  that 
you  may  always  remember  me. ' '  And  we  may  fancy  the  lovely 
high-born  daughter  of  that  earnest  and  scholarly  man  as,  daily  and 
nightly,  she  sits  at  her  window — perchance  with  her  gaze  wistfully 
turned  to  the  eastward.  There  she  sang  these  simple,  beautiful 
hymns— she  the  first  singer  of  the  new  hymns  of  the  Latin  Church. 
Among  the  themes  for  Christian  art  yet  left  to  us  there  is  hardly 
one  more  suggestive  than  this — for  Abra  doubtless  sang  her  father's 
hymns  to  her  father's  loyal  people.  It  may  even  be  supposed 
that  he  gave  her  the  tunes  as  well  as  the  words,  and  that,  by 
morning  and  by  night,  the  battle-scarred  Poitiers  re-echoed  this 
voice  of  the  exiled  bishop. 

Of  the  hymn  itself  as  much  can  be  said  in  favor  as  we  have 
just  said  against  its  pretended  and  ill-matched  companion.  It 
breathes  the  Johannean  sentiments  .throughout.  It  celebrates  the 
Light,  the  Son  of  God,  the  glory  of  the  Father,  ' '  clearer  than  the 
full  sun,  the  perfect  light  and  day  itself."  To  one  who  is  ac 
quainted  with  the  Greek  hymns  it  is  instantly  suggestive  of  those 
pellucid  songs — its  atmosphere  is  all  peace  and  its  trust  is  as  rest 
ful  to  the  tired  spirit  as  the  quiet  coming  of  the  rising  day.  It 
may  easily  have  been  a  translation  from  the  Greek,  or,  even  more 
easily,  the  natural  up-gush  of  melody  which  was  touched  into  life 
by  the  frequent  hearing  of  the  Eastern  hymns.  Hilary  never 
learned  it  in  an  Arian  church,  nor  did  he  find  it  among  controver 
sialists.  Its  nest,  where  it  was  first  reared,  was  in  some  corner  of 
a  catacomb  or  in  some  nook  of  the  Holy  Land.  This  hymn, 
then,  we  may  safely  accept  as  the  oldest  authentic  original  Latin 
"  song  of  praise  to  Christ  as  God." 


HILARY  OF  POITIERS.  29 

Whether  the  Bishop  of  Poitiers  had  much,  or  little  learning,  he 
wrote  a  valuable  book  on  Synods,  and  translated  for  us  many 
useful  and  otherwise  inaccessible  confessions  of  faith  and  state 
ments  of  doctrine.  Erasmus — himself  no  brave  man,  nor  one 
likely  to  estimate  moral  courage  properly — calls  this  letter  to 
Abra  "  r.ugamentum  hominis  otiose  mdoc/i" — the  trifling  production 
of  a  man  lazily  uneducated  !  Well,  perhaps  it  would  have  been 
as  well  if  some  of  that  same  "  luxurious  ignorance"  of  Hilary  could 
have  secured  the  "  laborious  learning"  of  Erasmus  from  exhibit 
ing,  at  the  end  of  life,  its  own  inefficiency.  Jerome  said  that 
whoever  found  fault  with  Hilary's  knowledge  was  compelled  to 
concede  his  philosophic  skill  ;  and  it  reminds  one  of  the  remark 
of  Dante  Rossetti,  who  said  that  nothing  in  our  age  could  stand 
comparison  with  a  sonnet  of  Shakespeare,  for,  rough  as  it  might 
seem,  Shakespeare  wrote  it.  It  was  this  manhood  behind  the  Latin 
which  went  for  more  than  all  Rotterdam  ! 

Hilary  is  credited  with  a  great  deal,  doubtless,  that  he  never 
wrote.     So  he  is,   by  Fortunatus,  with  miracles  which  he  never 
performed.     Alcuin  and  others  assign  to  him  the  Gloria  in  Ex- 
celsis,  but  this  was  certainly  more  ancient  than  Hilary,  being  quoted 
by  Athanasius  in   his  treatise  on  Virginity.      He  could  at  best 
merely  have  translated  it.     This  he  might  also  have  done  for  the 
Te  Deum  laudamus.     And  since  we  know  that  he  prepared  a  Liber\ 
Hymnorum — the  first  actual  hymn-book  of  the  Western  Church —  I 
we  have  some  reason  to  think  that  he  would  not  have  altogether  1 
forgotten  the  greatest  chants  of  the  early  Christians.     This  hymn- 
book  is  utterly  lost  to  us.     This  is  not  the  same  as  the  Liber 
Mysteriorum — the  book  of  the  mysteries — and   its  existence,  like 
that  of  its  companion  work,  rests  upon  the  testimony  of  Jerome. 
Doubtless  in  it  there  were  other  poems  and  songs  from  which  the  ; 
Hilarian  authorship  has  been  broken   or  lost.     It  was  not  the  ' 
ancient  custom  either  to  preserve  the  author's  name,  or  even  to 
retain  the  precise  form  of  his  hymn.      He  threw  his  little  lyric — 
as  the  Israelites  did  their  jewelry — into  the  common  treasury  of 
the  Church  ;  and  in  the  Breviaries,  where  so  many  of  these  hymns 
are  to  be  discovered,  a  later  and  more  critical  scholarship  may 
identify  some  of  them  hereafter.     As  delicate  insects  are  preserved 
in  amber,  we  there  find  much  that  we  should  otherwise  have  lost  ; 
but,  like  that  very  amber,  when  its  electricity  is  excited,  his  was 


30  LATIN  HYMNS. 

that  sort  of  reputation  which  attracted   many  anonymous  trifles — 
as,  for  example,  the  Ad  coeli  clara — to  itself. 

Of  Hilary's  other  writings,  with  exception  of  his  work  on  the 
Councils  of  Ariminum  and  Seleucia,  we  have  the  full  text.  His 
commentaries  on  the  Psalms  and  on  Matthew  ;  his  controversial 
pamphlets  against  Constant! us  ;  his  book  of  Synods;  his  twelve 
books  De  Trinitate — these  are  accessible  in  the  Patrologia  of  Migne. 

It  was  undoubtedly  believed  at  the  time  of  the  fourth  Council 
of  Toledo  that  he  had  written  many  pieces  "  in  favor  of  God,  and 
of  the  triumphs  of  apostles  and  martyrs  ;"  and  both  Jerome  and 
Isidore  of  Seville  declare  him  to  have  been  the  first  among  the 
Latins  to  write  Christian  verse.  But  to  show  how  uncertain  is  the 
conjecture  that  is  thus  started,  I  may  mention  that  the  Ut  queant 
laxis  of  Paul  Winfried,  the  "  Deacon,"  is  credited  to  Hilary  by 
the  Histoire  Litteraire.  The  same  authority  also  claims  for  him 
the  first  Pange  lingua  (Pange  lingua  gloriosi,  praelium  certaminis), 
which  is  sometimes  assigned  to  Claudianus  Mamertus,  but  is  the 
well-authenticated  composition  of  Venantius  Fortunatus,  the 
troubadour  and  friend  of  Radegunda,  the  wife  of  Clotaire.  We 
may  as  well  admit  that  a  great  man  did  not  necessarily  do  all  the 
great  things  of  his  day. 

Besides,  the  search  after  truth  in  this  matter  is  complicated  mar 
vellously  by  the  trade  of  the  hymn-tinkers,  who  put  new  bottoms 
and  tops  and  sides  to  a  great  many  religious  lyrics.  Here  is  a 
case  in  point  in  Mone  (vol.  iii.,  p.  633).  The  hymn  begins 
Christum  rogemus  et  pairem — "  We  call  on  Christ  and  on  the 
Father."  It  has  seven  stanzas.  The  first  stanza  is  from  a  morn 
ing  hymn,  supposed  to  be  by  Hilary.  The  second  is  from  an 
Ambrosian  hymn.  The  third  and  fourth  are  from  another  Am- 
brosian  hymn  to  the  Archangel  Michael.  TheJ/?/7//  is  from  a  very 
noble  Ambrosian  hymn — the  Aeterna  Christi  munera — of  which 
Daniel  says  that  it  itself  has  been  "  wretchedly  torn  to  pieces  by 
the  Church"  (ab  ecclesia  miser e  dilaceratum).  The  sixth  and  sev 
enth  stanzas  are  also  Ambrosian — from  the  Jesu  corona  virginum. 
Thus  this  single  hymn  of  seven  stanzas  is  mere  patchwork,  gath 
ered  from  that  Ambrosian  hymnody  which  the  Breviaries  supply. 
And  finding  all  the  rest  of  it  credited  to  Ambrose  and  to  his  cen 
tury,  we  are  inclined  to  doubt  that  Hilary  should  be  considered  as 
the  author  of  any  portion  at  all. 


HILARY  OF  POITIERS.  31 

Indeed  the  identification  of  Hilary's  hymns — except  the  Lucis 
largitor — is  purely  conjectural.  It  rests  mainly  on  the  hymno- 
logical  acumen  of  Cardinal  Thomasius,  which  may  or  may  not  be 
liable  to  error.  Kayser  refuses,  on  one  ground  or  another,  to 
positively  endorse  any,  except  the  one  which  all  now  concede. 
Next  to  this  in  probability  stands  the  Beata  nobis  gaudia  (though 
it  is  doubted  by  Professor  March),  and  then  the  Deus pater  ingenite, 
which  is  taken  from  the  Mozarabic  Breviary.  The  Jam  mela  noclis 
iransiit,  the  In  maluiinis  surgimus,  and  the  Jesu  rcfulsit  omnium, 
have  only  the  authority  of  Thomasius.  1hz  Jesu  quadragenariae, 
Daniel  says,  is  an  old  hymn,  but  very  certainly  composed  later 
than  the  time  of  Hilary.  The  Ad  coeli  clara  we  have  already  re 
jected.  Thus  we  have  one  authentic  and  five  conjectural  Hilarian 
hymns.  There  is,  however,  great  doubt  resting  on  the  Jesu 
refulsit  omnium;  and  if  I  consulted  merely  my  own  judgment, 
I  should  declare  against  it,  if  only  in  view  of  the  rhymes — a  char 
acteristic  which  it  would  scarcely  possess  if  it  were  genuinely  of 
the  fourth  century.  And  while  we  are  upon  this  somewhat  un 
grateful  duty  of  trying  to  set  matters  right,  shall  we  pass  over  the 
slip  which  Mrs.  Charles  makes  in  her  capital  little  book  ?  (Chris- 
Han  Life  in  Song.  Am.  ed.,  p.  74.)  For  she  says  that  "  The 
Hilary  who  wrote  the  hymns  was  the  canonized  Bishop  of  Aries." 
There  was,  much  later,  a  Hilary  of  Aries  ;  and  there  was  another 
Hilary  of  Rome,  and  there  were  also  others  of  the  same  name  ; 
but  none  of  them  wrote  hymns.  He  of  Aries  assuredly  did  not 

Of  our  own  Hilary  it  may  be  added  that  the  rest  of  his  life  was 
earnest,  but  comparatively  quiet.  We  shall  find  Gregory  of  Tours 
and  Fortunatus  asserting  that  he  raised  the  dead  and  healed  the 
sick,  and  cast  out  devils  (some  of  them  in  the  shape  of  snakes) 
from  a  boy's  stomach  ;  but  these  stories  belong  naturally  to  a 
credulous  and  superstitious  age.  More  to  the  purpose  is  it  to  find 
that  the  bishop  had  entered  upon  the  composition  of  tunes  for  his 
hymns,  and  had  taken  u'p  calligraphy  and  the  ornamentation  of 
manuscripts.  There  was  a  book  of  the  Gospels  found,  on  which 
was  indorsed,  "  Quern  scripsit  Hilarius  Piclavensis  quondam 
sacerdos' — "which  Hilary  of  Poitiers,  formerly  a  priest,  wrote." 
A  similar  book  was  left  by  St.  Perpetuus,  Bishop  of  Tours,  to 
Bishop  Euphronius,  Fortunatus' s  friend.  This  is  attested  by  his 
will,  executed  in  474.  "  I  saw,"  says  Christian  Druthmar  (ninth 


32  LATIN  HYMNS. 

century),  a  book  of  the  Gospels,  written  in  Greek,  which  was 
said  to  have  been  St.  Hilary's,  in  which  were  Matthew  and  John," 
etc.  But  whether  Hilary  wrote  this  is  naturally  an  open  question. 

The  good  bishop  died  at  Poitiers — as  Jerome  and  Gregory  of 
Tours  declare — but  the  date  is  still  a  matter  of  some  uncertainty. 
Valentinian  and  Valens  were  upon  the  throne,  and  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  367-68  was  the  year.  January  I4th  has  also  been  assigned 
by  some  authorities,  but  with  no  better  reason  than  a  generally 
received  tradition  to  this  effect,  and  the  fact  that  this  is  his  day  in 
the  Roman  calendar.  His  body  was,  however,  scattered  rather 
widely.  It  was  removed  from  its  tomb  in  the  time  of  Clovis — a 
bone  of  his  arm  was  in  Belgium,  and  some  other  portions  of  his 
anatomy  were  in  Limoges.  About  the  year  638,  Dagobert  is 
stated  to  have  placed  his  remains  in  the  Church  of  St  Dionysius, 
and  so  confident  of  this  fact  were  the  people  of  Poitiers,  in  1394, 
that  they  vehemently  asserted  that  they  had  his  relics  there  in  per 
fect  safety.  "  Calvinistic  heretics"  were  said  to  have  burned  the 
mortal  remnants  of  the  great  "  hammer  of  the  Arians, "  and  the 
Pictavians  took  this  method  to  meet  the  calumny.  For  aught  we 
know  to  the  contrary  they  were  perfectly  right,  and  the  dust  of 
their  bishop  is  still  resting  peacefully  in  their  midst 

For  his  works,  the  Paris  edition  of  1693  is  the  best ;  but  the 
Palrologia  of  J.  P.  Migne  contains  all  that  any  one  can  need  or 
care  to  see.  It  is  the  full  reprint  of  the  Paris  volumes,  together 
with  biographical  and  critical  notes,  in  Latin,  prepared  with  great 
diligence  and  research  ;  but,  of  course,  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
point  of  view. 

THE   HYMNS  OF   HILARY. 
I.  I. 

HVMNUS   MATUTINUS.  A   MORNING    HYMN. 

i.    Lucis  largitor  splendide,  i.  Thou  splendid  giver  of  the  light, 
Cujus  sereno  lumine  By  whose  serene  and  lovely  ray 

Post  lapsa  noctis  tempora  Beyond  the  gloomy  shades  of  night 

Dies  refusus  panditur  ;  Is  opened  wide  another  day  ! 

a.    Tu  verus  mundi  Lucifer,  a.  Thou  true  Light-bearer  of  the  earth, 
Non  is,  qui  parvi  sideris  Far  more  than  he  whose  slender  star, 

Venturae  lucis  nuntius  Son  of  the  morning,  in  its  dearth 

Angusto  fulget  lumine,  Of  radiance  sheds  its  beams  afar  ! 

3.   Sed  toto  sole  clarior,  3.  But  clearer  than  the  sun  may  shine, 
Lux  ipse  totus  et  dies,  All  light  and  day  in  Thee  I  find, 

Interna  nostri  pectoris  To  fill  my  night  with  glory  fine 

Ilium  mans  praecordia  :  And  purify  my  inner  mind'. 


HILARY  OF  POITIERS. 


33 


4.  Adesto,  rerum  conditor, 
Patcrnae  lucis  gloria, 
Cujus  admota  gratia 
Nostra  patescunt  corpora  ; 

5.  Tuoque  plena  spiritu, 
Secum  Deum  gestantia, 
Ne  rapientis  perfidi 
Diris  patescant  fraudibus, 

6.  Ut  inter  actus  seculi 
Vitae  quos  usus  exigit, 
Omni  carentes  criminc 
Tuis  vivamus  legibus. 

7.  Probrosas  mentis  castitas 
Carnis  vincat  libidines, 
Sanctumque  puri  corporis 
Delubrum  servet  Spiritus. 

8.  Haec  spes  precantis  animae, 
Haec  sunt  votiva  munera, 
Ut  matutina  nobis  sit 

Lux  in  noctis  custodiam. 


4.  Come  near,  Thou  maker  of  the  world, 

Illustrious  in  thy  Father's  light, 
From  whose  free  grace  if  we  were  hurled, 
Body  and  soul  were  ruined  quite. 

•5.  Fill  with  Thy  Spirit  every  sense. 

That  God's  divine  and  gracious  love 
May  drive  Satanic  temptings  hence, 
And  blight  their  falsehoods  from  above. 

6.  That  in  the  acts  of  common  toil 

Which  life  demands  from  us  each  day, 
We  may,  without  a  stain  or  soil, 
Live  in  Thy  holy  laws  alway. 

7.  Let  chastity  of  mind  prevail 

To  conquer  every  fleshly  lust  ; 
And  keep  Thy  temple  without  fail, 
O  Holy  Ghost,  from  filth  and  dust. 

8.  This  hope  is  in  my  praying  heart — 

These  are  my  vows  which  now  I  pay  ; 
That  this  sweet  light  may  not  depart, 
But  guide  me  purely  through  the  day. 


II. 

HVMNl'S    MATUT1NUS. 


II. 

A  MORNING   HYMN. 


1.  Deus,  Pater  ingenite, 
Et  Fili  unigenite, 
Quos  Trinitatis  unitas 
Sancto  connectit  Spiritu. 

2.  Te  frustra  niillus  invocat, 
Nee  cassis  unquam  vocibus 
Amator  tui  luminis 

Ad  coelum  vultus  erigit. 

3.  Et  tu  suspirantem,  Deus, 
Vel  vota  supplicantium, 
Vel  corda  confitentium 
Semper  benignus  aspice. 


i.  Eternal  Father,  God, 

And  sole-begotten  Son, 

Who  with  the  Holy  Ghost 

Art  ever  Three  in  One. 

a.  None  calleth  Thee  in  vain. 
Nor  yet  with  empty  cry 
Doth  he  who  seeks  Thy  light 
Lift  up  his  gaze  on  high. 

3.  Do  Thou,  O  God,  behold 

With  mercy  them  that  pray  | 
Receive  their  earnest  vows 
And  take  their  guilt  away. 


4.  Nos  lucis  ortus  admonet 
Grates  deferre  debitas, 
Tibique  laudes  dicere, 
Quod  nox  obscura  praeterit. 

5.  [Et]  diem  precamur  bonum, 
Ut  nostros,  Salvator,  actus 
Sinceritate  perpeti 

Pius  benigne  instruas. 


4.  The  kindling  sky  forewarns 

Our  souls  what  praise  we  owe 
To  Him  at  whose  command 
The  night  has  ceased  below. 

5.  We  ask  a  happy  day, 

That  Thou  shouldst  guide  our  ways 
In  constant  faithfulness, 
O  Saviour,  to  Thy  praise  ! 


34 


LATIN  HYMNS. 


III. 

HYMNUS    PENTECOSTALIS. 

1.  Beata  nobis  gaudia 
Anni  reduxit  orbita, 
Cum  Spiritus  paraclitus 
Illapsus  est  discipulis. 

2.  Ignis  vibrante  lumine 
Linguae  figuram  detulit, 
Verbis  ut  essent  proflui, 
Et  charitate  fervidi. 

3.  Linguis  loquuntur  omnium  ; 
Turbae  pavent  gentilium : 
Musto  madere  deputant, 
Quos  Spiritus  repleverat. 

4.  Patrata  sunt  haec  mystice, 
Paschae  peracto  tempore, 
Sacro  dierum  circulo, 
Quo  lege  fit  remissio. 

5.  Te  nunc,  Deus  piissime, 
Vultu  precamur  cernuo: 
Illapsa  nobis  coelitus 
Largire  dona  Spiritus  ! 

6.  Dudum  sacrata  pectora 
Tua  replesti  gratia, 
Dimitte  nostra  crimina, 
Et  da  quieta  tempora ! 

IV. 

HYMNUS   MATUTINUS. 

1.  Jam  meta  noctis  transiit, 
Somni  quies  jam  praeterit 
Aurora  surgit  fulgida 

Et  spargit  coelum  lux  nova. 

2.  Sed  cum  diei  spiculum 
Cernamus,  hinc  nos  omnium 
Ad  te,  superne  Lucifer, 
Preces  necesse  est  f  undere. 

3.  Te  lucis  sancte  Spiritus 
Et  caritatis  actibus 

Ad  instar  illud  gloriae 
Nos  innovatos  effice. 

4.  Praesta  Pater  piissime 
Patrique  compar  unice, 
Cum  Spiritu  paraclito 

Nunc  et  per  omnc  saeculum. 


III. 

WHITSUNDAY   HYMN. 

1.  What  blessed  joys  are  ours, 

When  time  renews  our  thought 
Of  that  true  Comforter 
On  the  disciples  brought. 

2.  With  light  of  quivering  flame 

In  fiery  tongues  He  fell, 
And  hearts  were  warm  with  love 
And  lips  were  quick  to  tell. 

3.  All  tongues  were  loosened  then, 

And  fear,  in  men,  awoke 
Before  that  mighty  power 
By  which  the  Spirit  spoke. 

4.  Achieved  in  mystic  sign 

Has  been  that  paschal  feast, 
Whose  sacred  list  of  days 
The  soul  from  sin  released. 

5.  Thee  then,  O  holiest  Lord, 

We  pray  in  humble  guise 
To  give  such  heavenly  gifts 
Before  our  later  eyes. 

6.  Fill  consecrated  breasts 

With  grace  to  keep  Thy  ways  ; 
Show  us  forgiveness  now, 
And  grant  us  quiet  days. 

IV. 

A   MORNING   HYMN. 

1.  The  limit  of  the  night  is  passed, 

The  quiet  hour  of  sleep  has  fled  ; 
Far  up  the  lance  of  dawn  is  cast ; 
New  light  upon  the  heaven  is  spread. 

2.  But  when  this  sparkle  of  the  day 

Our  eyes  discern,  then.  Lord  of  light. 
To  Thee  our  souls  make  haste  to  pray 
And  offer  all  their  wants  aright. 

3.  O  Holy  Spirit,  by  the  deeds 

Of  Thine  own  light  and  charity, 

Renew  us  through  our  earthly  needs 

And  cause  us  to  be  like  to  Thee. 

4.  Grant  this,  O  Father  ever  blessed  ; 

And  Holy  Son,  our  heavenly  friend  ; 
And  Holy  Ghost,  Thou  comfort  best  ! 
Now  and  until  all  time  shall  end. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

POPE   DAMASUS   AND    THE   BEGINNING    OF   RHYME. 

CONTEMPORARY  with  Hilary  of  Poitiers,  but  probably  a  younger 
man,  as  he  survived  him  by  seventeen  years,  was  Damasus  of 
Rome.  Like  many  other  Romans  of  the  imperial  period,  he  was 
a  Spaniard  by  birth  ;  or,  at  least,  he  was  the  son  of  a  Spaniard  who 
had  removed  to  Rome  and  had  become  a  deacon  or  presbyter  of 
the  church  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  the  Roman  martyr,  St. 
Lawrence.  Of  his  own  earlier  life  we  know  very  little.  An  extant 
epitaph  records  the  fact  that  he  had  a  sister  who  became  a  nun 
and  died  in  her  twentieth  year.  He  himself  served  in  the  Church 
of  St.  Lawrence  until  his  sixtieth  year,  when  he  was  chosen 
Bishop  of  Rome  ;  and  in  the  accepted  catalogue,  which  begins 
with  the  Apostle  Peter,  he  ranks  as  the  thirty-sixth  bishop  of  the 
see. 

He  was  chosen  bishop  in  A.D.  366,  because  of  the  position  he 
had  taken  with  reference  to  the  controversy  which  then  agitated 
the  diocese,  and  because  of  the  firmness  and  weight  of  character 
he  had  displayed  in  the  troubles  of  the  years  before  his  election. 
The  great  Christological  controversy  was  agitating  the  Church  of 
both  East  and  West  The  West  was  substantially  in  agreement 
with  Athanasius,  against  both  the  Arians  and  the  semi-Arians,  and 
would  have  been  entirely  so  but  for  the  influence  exerted  by  semi- 
Arian  or  Arian  emperors  and  the  courtly  bishops  of  their  party. 
Constantius,  the  last  surviving  son  of  Constantine  the  Great,  was 
exceedingly  zealous  for  the  semi-Arian  doctrine,  which  rejected  the 
statement  of  our  Lord's  substantial  identity  with  His  Father,  but 
was  willing  to  assert  His  substantial  likeness.  It  was  only  the 
difference  of  an  iota  in  a  Greek  word — o'jtoovffioSor  o jtoiovffio? 
— but  if  there  ever  was  a  case  in  which  neither  jot  nor  tittle  must 
be  allowed  to  pass  away,  it  was  this. 

Liberius,  who  was  elected  Bishop  of  Rome  in  352,  was  the  vic 
tim  of  Constantius' s  policy.  In  353  the  East  and  West  were  united 


36  LATIN  HYMNS. 

under  his  rule,  and  that  year  at  Aries,  as  in  355  at  Milan,  councils 
were  called,  in  which  the  condemnation  of  Athanasius  was  pro 
cured  by  imperial  blandishments.  In  the  former  the  presbyter 
sent  by  Liberius  to  represent  the  Roman  see  subscribed  with  the 
majority.  But  in  the  second  his  three  representatives  obeyed 
their  instructions,  and  accepted  disfavor  and  exile  rather  than 
subscribe.  Then  Liberius  himself  was  summoned  to  Milan,  and 
the  weight  of  imperial  threats  and  persuasions  was  brought  to  bear 
upon  him.  He  withstood  both  manfully,  and  demanded  as  a 
preliminary  to  any  discussion  of  the  charges  against  Athanasius, 
that  the  Nicene  Creed  should  be  subscribed  by  all  parties,  and  the 
banished  bishops  returned  to  their  sees.  When  given  his  choice 
between  submission  and  exile,  he  chose  the  latter. 

The  Emperor  now  sought  among  the  Roman  clergy  for  a  man 
to  put  into  Liberius's  place.  In  Rome,  as  in  most  of  the  cities 
of  the  West,  Arians  were  not  to  be  found.  But  in  the  Deacon 
Felix  the  court  party  obtained  a  candidate  who,  while  himself  a 
Trinitarian,  was  willing  to  hold  communion  with  the  Arians,  and 
presumably  to  condemn  Athanasius.  Of  the  details  of  his  election 
and  ordination  little  is  known,  but  we  find  him  installed  in  the 
Roman  see  with  the  vigorous  support  of  the  civil  authority, 
although  not  with  the  assent  of  the  Roman  people.  The  great 
body  of  the  Christians  in  Rome  are  said  to  have  refused  com 
munion  with  him  because  he  was  tainted  by  communion  with 
heretics  ;  and  when  Constantius  came  to  visit  the  city,  he  was 
besieged  by  the  Christian  ladies  of  the  city  with  appeals  for  the 
restoration  of  Liberius. 

In  the  mean  time  three  years  of  exile  to  Thrace,  where  he  was 
thrown  of  set  purpose  into  constant  association  with  bishops  of 
the  semi-Arian  party,  and  isolated  from  his  friends,  had  broken 
the  spirit  of  Liberius.  He  was  not  a  man  of  strong  character,  and, 
unfortunately  for  the  theory  of  papal  infallibility,  he  yielded.  He 
signed  a  creed  compiled  for  the  occasion,  which  described  Christ 
as  of  like  substance  with  the  Father,  and  condemned  Athanasius.* 


*  Of  course  the  champions  of  papal  infallibility  are  at  great  pains  to 
deny  this.  But  all  the  contemporary  writers,  such  as  Athanasius,  Hilary, 
and  Jerome,  assert  it,  and  against  it  there  is  nothing  but  a  priori  assump 
tions  and  the  assertion  that  the  third  Sirmian  formula  signed  by  Liberius 


POPE  DAM  ASUS  AND  THE  BEGINNING  OF  RHYME.  37 

He  then  was  allowed  to  return  to  Rome,  although  Felix  II.  was 
still  the  recognized  bishop.  Constantius  seems  to  have  foreseen 
the  difficulties  which  would  attend  the  presence  of  the  two  bishops 
in  the  city,  and  he  consented  to  the  return  of  Liberius  unwillingly. 
The  body  of  the  people  and  of  the  clergy  at  once  rallied  around 
Liberius,  and  rejected  Felix  altogether  ;  and  of  this  party  was 
Damasus.  But  while  they  were  willing  to  condone  his  weakness 
in  the  matter  of  condemning  Athanasius,  there  was  a  party  of 
more  determined  Athanasians  who  refused  to  do  so,  and  the 
diocese  now  was  divided  between  the  three  factions.  That  of 
Felix  disappeared  with  his  own  death  in  360  and  the  death  of 
Consiantius  in  361.  But  the  extreme  Athanasians,  although  they 
did  not  attempt  to  set  up  a  rival  bishop  while  Liberius  lived,  per 
petuated  their  party,  and  they  probably  received  aid  and  comfort 
from  a  similar  party  which  had  arisen  in  the  East,  in  opposition  to 
the  wiser  and  more  charitable  policy  of  Athanasius  himself.  This 
party  was  called  the  Luciferians,  from  'Lucifer,  Bishop  of  Cagliari, 
in  Sardinia,  who  was  in  exile  in  the  East  at  the  time  when  this 
question  was  raised  there  after  the  death  of  Constantius. 

In  367  Liberius  died,  and  the  schism  at  once  showed  itself  in 
Rome.  Damasus  was  chosen  and  ordained  bishop  in  the  regular 
form  by  the  friends  of  Liberius,  who  were  the  great  majority. 
But  the  Deacon  Ursicinus  was  chosen  by  the  Luciferian  party,  and 
ordained  by  bishops  of  that  party  in  the  basilica  of  St.  Sicinus. 
Unfortunately  the  prefect  of  the  city  was  a  weak  and  ineffective 
man,  who  was  quite  unable  to  preserve  peace  between  the  two 
factions.  It  soon  came  to  blows  between  them,  and  the  pagan 
historian,  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  tells  us  with  what  result  : 

"  Damasus  and  Ursinus  being  eager  beyond  measure  to  secure  posses 
sion  of  the  bishop's  seat,  carried  on  the  conflict  most  bitterly  and  with 
divisive  partisanship,  their  supporters  carrying  their  quarrels  to  the  point 
of  inflicting  death  and  wounds.  As  Juventius  was  unable  either  to  sup 
press  or  abate  these  evils,  he  yielded  to  the  violence  and  withdrew  to  the 


has  been  mistaken  for  the  first,  which  was  Arian.  In  Dr.  Newman's 
Arians  of  the  Fourth  Century,  pp.  433-40,  there  is  a  careful  account 
of  the  three  Sirmian  formulas.  The  main  fact  never  was  denied  until 
the  necessities  of  the  infallibility  theory  compelled  the  rewriting  of  his 
tory.  Even  the  old  Roman  Breviary  declares  that  "  Liberius  assented  to 
the  Arian  mischief." 


38  LATIN  HYMNS. 

suburbs.  And  in  the  struggle  Damasus  overcame,  as  his  party  was  the 
more  determined  of  the  two.  It  is  admitted  that  in  the  basilica  of  Sici- 
nus,  which  is  a  place  of  assemblage  for  Christian  worship,  there  were 
found  in  one  day  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  corpses  of  those  who  had 
been  done  to  death  ;  and  also  that  the  excitement  of  the  populace  abated 
slowly  and  with  difficulty  after  the  affair  was  over." 

"  See  how  these  Christians  love  one  another  !"  was  a  comment 
made  by  pagans  on  the  spirit  which  had  prevailed  in  the  earlier 
Church.  They  now  might  have  said  it  ironically.  It  is  impos 
sible  to  acquit  Damasus  of  all  responsibility  in  the  matter,  as  he 
was  a  man  of  eminent  ability  and  influence,  and  might  have  put 
an  end  to  these  scenes  of  violence  if  he  had  exerted  his  authority. 
It  is  equally  impossible  to  believe  that  he  took  any  part  in  them. 
Then,  as  in  the  Reformation  times,  what  John  Knox  calls  "  the 
raskill  multitude"  greatly  enjoyed  an  opportunity  to  show  how 
great  their  zeal  for  religion,  in  any  other  shape  but  that  of  obeying 
its  precepts.  ' '  Set  Jehu  to  pulling  down  idols, ' '  said  an  old 
Puritan,  "  and  see  how  zealous  he  can  be." 

The  schism  did  not  end  with  the  bloody  struggle  around  the 
basilica  of  St.  Sicinus.  It  is  true  that  the  civil  authority  now  inter 
posed  and  banished  the  bishop  of  the  Luciferian  party.  But  he 
afterward  was  allowed  to  return,  and  again  the  troubles  revived 
and  ceased  only  with  his  second  banishment  Even  when  the 
Emperor  Gratian  gave  Damasus  the  entire  jurisdiction  over  the 
bishops  and  priests  involved  in  the  schism,  with  a  view  to  the  final 
suppression  of  these  disputes,  the  extremists  lingered  on.  After 
Ursicinus  there  was  yet  another  Luciferian  bishop  of  Rome  ;  and 
by  a  curious  freak  of  controversial  zeal  the  memory  of  Felix  was 
consecrated  as  that  of  an  opponent  of  Liberius,  and  a  mythical 
account  of  their  relations  was  given  currency,  which  has  resulted 
in  the  elevation  of  Felix  to  the  rank  of  "  pope  and  martyr,"  on 
the  ground  that  Constantius  had  him  beheaded  for  his  loyalty  to 
the  Nicene  faith  !  * 


*  See  Dr.  Dollinger's  Fables  respecting  tJu  Popes  in  the  Middle 
Ages  (New  York,  1872),  pp.  183-209.  In  1582  Gregory  XIII.  was  on 
the  point  of  expunging  his  name  from  the  Roman  Martyrology,  as  Ba- 
ronius  had  proven  that  he  was  neither  a  pope  nor  a  martyr,  but  had  died 
peaceably  on  his  own  estate  near  Rome.  But  the  discovery  of  a  stone 
with  an  inscription  asserting  his  martyrdom  turned  the  scale  the  other 


POPE  DAM  ASUS  AND   THE  BEGINNING  OF  RHYME.  39 

Damasus  made  an  excellent  record  in  his  see,  after  the  abating 
of  the  troubles  which  attended  his  accession  to  it  He  left  no 
room  for  doubt  as  to  his  orthodoxy.  For  the  first  time  since  the 
great  controversy  broke  out  in  Alexandria,  the  whole  weight  and 
influence  of  the  great  Roman  see  was  thrown  unreservedly  and 
effectively  on  the  Athanasian  side.  The  accession  of  Valentinian 
(364-75)  to  the  imperial  authority  in  the  West  once  more  threw 
the  weight  of  court  influence  on  the  other  side  ;  but  intolerance 
was  not  carried  to  the  same  extent  as  by  Constantius.  At  every 
stage  of  the  discussion  we  find  Damasus  outspoken  on  behalf  of 
the  Nicene  faith,  and  in  support  of  Athanasius.  In  368  he  held 
a  synod  at  Rome,  in  which  the  Illyrian  bishops  Ursacius  and 
Valens,  who  were  trying  to  Arianize  the  West,  were  condemned 
as  heretics  ;  and  in  370  another  in  which  the  same  condemnation 
was  meted  out  to  Auxentius,  the  Bishop  of  Milan.  Before  he 
died  he  saw  the  second  General  Council  meet  at  Constantinople 
and  lay  the  ban  of  the  Church  on  all  the  compromises  with 
Arianism. 

The  see  of  Rome  already  had  become  a  place  of  great  splendor 
and  influence.  "  Make  me  Bishop  of  Rome,"  the  pagan  senator 
Praetextatus  said  to  him,  "  and  I  will  be  a  Christian  to-morrow." 
Damasus  seems  to  have  enjoyed  the  pomp  and  show  and  oppor 
tunities  for  outlay  and  for  influence  which  his  position  secured 
him.  But  there  was  much  in  his  administration  of  his  diocese 
which  commends  him  to  our  sympathies  and  even  our  admiration. 
He  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  have  taken  a  genuine  interest 
in  the  Catacombs — the  great  underground  burial-places  which  are 
so  rich  in  memorials  of  the  Church's  primitive  and  martyr  ages. 
He  fostered  their  use  as  places  of  pilgrimage  and  reunion  for  the 
people  of  his  own  diocese  and  pilgrims  from  others.  He  con 
structed  the  staircases  which  made  them  accessible,  the  well-lights 
for  their  illumination  and  ventilation,  and  the  chapels  for  collec 
tive  worship.  Here  Christendom,  in  the  day  of  its  triumph, 
gathered  to  commemorate  those  who  had  been  faithful  when  the 
Church  was  under  the  cross,  and  Prudentius  in  his  Perislephanon 
has  left  us  a  lively  picture  of  the  eager  multitudes  who  resorted 


way.     Modern  scholarship  stigmatizes  the  inscription  as  a  fraud,  and  it 
is  notable  that  the  stone  has  disappeared. 


40  LATIN  HYMNS. 

thither  on  the  festival  days,  some  from  Rome  itself,  others  from 
the  Etrurian  and  Sabine  villages,  thronging  even  the  great  roads 
to  the  city  to  their  utmost  capacity  :  "  From  early  morn  they  press 
thither  to  greet  the  saints.  The  multitude  comes  and  goes  until 
evening.  They  kiss  the  polished  plates  of  silver  which  cover  the 
grave  of  the  martyr.  They  offer  incense,  and  tears  of  emotion 
itream  from  the  eyes  of  all. ' ' 

When,  after  long  centuries  of  forgetfulness,  the  Catacombs  were 
•eopened  in  1578  by  Antonio  Bosio,  traces  of  these  pilgrimages 
were  found  in  the  graffiti  or  rude  chalk-inscriptions  left  on  the 
\valls  of  the  passages  by  the  Italian  peasants  of  the  fourth  and  fifth 
centuries.  There  also  were  found  the  inscriptions  in  verse,  com 
posed  by  Damasus,  and  cut  in  stone  by  his  friend,  Furius  Filo- 
calus,  who  devised  an  ornamental  alphabet  for  the  purpose.  In 
one  of  these  Filocalus  describes  himself  as  one  who  "  reverenced 
and  loved  Pope  Damasus"  (Damasi papae  cultor  aique  amator). 

Another  side  of  his  activity  has  been  brought  into  light  by  more 
recent  researches  in  Rome.  Professor  Lanciani  says  that  to  Damasus 
belongs  also  the  honor  of  having  founded  the  first  public  library 
of  Christendom  :  "  The  finest  libraries  of  the  first  centuries  of 
Christendom  were,  of  course,  in  Rome.  .  .  .  Such  was  the  impor 
tance  attributed  to  books  in  those  early  days  of  our  faith  that,  in 
Christian  basilicas,  or  places  of  worship,  they  were  kept  in  the 
place  of  honor — next  to  the  episcopal  chair.  Many  of  the  basilicas 
which  we  discover  from  time  to  time,  especially  in  the  Campagna, 
have  the  apse  irichora — that  is,  divided  into  three  small  hemicycles. 
The  reason  of  this  peculiar  form  was  long  sought  in  vain  ;  but  a 
recent  discovery  made  at  Hispalis  proves  that  of  the  three  hemi 
cycles  the  central  one  contained  the  tribunal  or  episcopal  chair, 
the  one  on  the  right  the  sacred  implements,  the  one  on  the  left 
the  sacred  books. 

"  The  first  building  erected  in  Rome,  under  the  Christian  rule, 
for  the  study  and  preservation  of  books  and  documents,  was  the 
Archivum  (Archives)  of  Pope  Damasus.  This  just  and  enterpris 
ing  pope,  the  last  representative  of  good  old  Roman  traditions  as 
regards  the  magnificence  and  usefulness  of  his  public  structures, 
modelled  his  establishment  on  the  pattern  of  the  typical  library  at 
Pergamos  ;  of  which  the  Palatine  Library  in  Rome  had  been  the 
worthy  rival.  He  began  by  raising  in  the  centre  a  hall  of  basilical 


POPE  DAM  ASUS  AND   THE  BEGINNING  OF  RHYME.  41 

type,  which  he  dedicated  to  St.  Lawrence,"  and  which  "  was  sur 
rounded  by  a  square  portico,  into  which  opened  the  rooms  or  cells 
containing  the  various  departments  of  the  archives  and  of  the 
library.  A  commemorative  inscription,  composed  by  Damasus 
himself,  in  hexameters,  seven  in  number,  was  set  in  front  of  the 
building  above  the  main  entrance.  The  text  has  been  discovered 
in  a  MS.  formerly  at  Heidelberg,  now  in  the  Vatican.  The  first 
four  hexameters  do  not  bring  out  in  a  good  light  the  poetical 
faculties  of  the  worthy  pontiff — in  fact  their  real  meaning  has  not 
yet  been  ascertained  ;  but  the  last  three  verses  are  more  intel 
ligible  : 

'  Archibis,  fateor,  volui  nova  condere  tecta  ; 
Addere  praeterea  dextra  laevaque  columnas, 
Quae  Damasi  teneant  proprium  per  saecula  nomen.' 

"  Around  the  apse  of  the  inner  hall  there  was  another  distich 
of  about  the  same  poetical  value,  the  text  of  which  has  been  dis 
covered  in  a  MS.  at  Verdun  : 

'  Hsec  Damasi  tibi,  Christe  Deus,  nova  tecta  levavi 
Laurent!  sseptus  martyrisauxilio.' 

"  Mention  of  Damasus' s  Archives  is  frequently  made  in  the 
documents  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries.  Jerome  calls  them 
chariarium  ecclesice  Romanes. ' '  * 

But  a  still  more  lasting  monument  of  his  fame  is  the  Latin 
Vulgate,  which  he  incited  Jerome — as  the  English-speaking  world 
calls  Sophronius  Eusebius  Hieronymus — to  prepare  for  the  Church 
of  the  West.  From  a  very  early  time  Latin  translations  of  the 
Scriptures  from  the  Greek  version  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
Greek  original  of  the  New  Testament  had  been  in  existence.  But 
although  there  were  two  well  recognized  types  of  these  early  ver 
sions — the  Italian  and  the  African — there  was  so  little  uniformity 
that  there  were  "almost  as  many  versions  as  copies."  Jerome 
was  a  man  of  classical  culture  and  a  close  student  of  the  Scriptures, 
which  he  could  read  in  Hebrew  as  well  as  in  Greek  and  Latin. 
He  came  to  Rome  from  Syria  in  382,  to  ask  the  aid  of  Damasus 
in  behalf  of  the  Luciferian  schism  at  Antioch — a  matter  in  which 
the  Bishop  of  Rome  hardly  could  meddle.  Even  before  his 


*  Condensed  from  Ancient  Rome  in  the  Light  of  Modern  Discoveries, 
by  Professor  Rodolfo  Lanciani.     Boston,  1888. 


42  LATIN  HYMNS. 

arrival  he  had  been  in  correspondence  witn  Damasus  and  had 
written  for  him  an  exposition  of  the  vision  of  the  Seraphim  in 
Isaiah  6.  Damasus  called  a  synod  in  which  the  schism  at  Antioch 
was  discussed,  but  no  result  reached.  It  is  said  that  in  this  synod 
he  exhorted  Jerome  to  take  up  the  work  of  giving  the  Church  a 
good  Latin  version  of  the  Bible.  A  ninth- century  writer  says  he 
put  him  in  charge  of  the  Archivum,  or  public  library,  described  by 
Professor  Lanciani.  Later  writers  speak  of  him,  without  much 
warrant,  as  Damasus' s  secretary.  It  seems  probable  that  Damasus 
regarded  him  as  a  desirable  man  for  the  bishopric  when  his  own 
death  should  leave  it  vacant.  But  when  his  death  came  in  384, 
the  Dalmatian  scholar  was  passed  over,  perhaps  because  he  was 
not  a  Roman,  and  a  much  smaller  man  than  either  Damasus  or 
Jerome  was  chosen  instead.  So  Jerome  went  back  to  the  East 
and  established  himself  at  Bethlehem.  Between  382  and  404  he 
completed  his  version  of  the  Scriptures,  which  is  of  especial  im 
portance  to  the  student  of  Latin  hymnology,  as  it  stands  in  much 
the  same  relation  to  the  Latin  hymns  of  the  fifth  and  later  cen 
turies  as  does  the  English  Bible  to  the  English  hymn-writers. 
It  controls  their  vocabulary  and  explains  their  allusions. 

As  a  poet  Damasus  does  not  take  very  high  rank.  We  have 
seen  Professor  Lanciani' s  opinion  of  his  inscriptions.  Some  forty 
poems  are  attributed  to  him,  but  only  a  very  few  of  these  concern 
us  here.  In  the  Cottonian  MSS.  there  is  a  copy  of  rhymed  "  Verses 
of  Damasus  to  his  Friend"  (Versus  Damasi  ad  Amicum  suuni), 
which  would  be  interesting  to  us  if  we  were  sure  that  Sir  Alexander 
Croke  is  right  in  assuming  that  this  is  our  Damasus.  But  the 
name  "  Rainalde"  in  the  first  line  would  hardly  occur  in  a  Latin 
poem  by  a  Roman  author  of  the  fourth  century. 

There  is  no  reason,  however,  to  call  in  question  the  two  hymns 
— one  to  the  Martyr  Agatha  and  the  other  to  the  Apostle  Andrew — 
which  are  ascribed  to  him  in  ihe  collections.  And  the  former  is 
especially  remarkable  as  being  the  oldest  hymn  in  which  rhyme  is 
employed  intentionally  and  throughout.  Of  course  if  it  were  true 
that  Hilary  wrote  the  Jesu  refulsit  omnium  or  the  Jesu  qitadri- 
•genaricE,  which  sometimes  are  printed  as  his,  we  should  be  obliged 
to  assign  to  him  the  honor  thus  claimed  for  Damasus.  But  the 
preponderance  of  evidence  and  of  presumption  is  against  ascribing 
these  hymns  to  him.  Koch  assigns  the  latter  to  the  fifth  century 


POPE  DAM  ASUS  AND  THE  BEGINNING  OF  RHYME.  43 

and  not  to  the  fourth.  Mone  ascribes  the  former  to  one  of  the 
early  Irish  hymn-writers,  whose  name  is  lost  to  us.  He  finds  in 
it  a  tendency  to  alliterative  construction,  which  indicates  either 
Celtic  or  Teutonic  authorship  ;  and  he  is  decided  for  the  former 
by  the  mixture  of  Greek  words,  which  was  a  favorite  practice  with 
the  Irish  hymn  writers.  Also  the  metrical  form  is  one  affected  by 
them.  On  these  grounds  it  is  fair  to  claim  that  the  hymn  of 
Damasus  marks  the  introduction  of  end-rhymes  into  the  Latin 
hymns. 

Rhyme  was  by  no  means  unknown  in  the  poetry  of  the  Greeks 
and  the  Romans.  But  in  languages  which  occupied  that  stage  of 
grammatical  development  in  which  the  relations  of  words  are  ex 
pressed  by  terminations,  the  resemblances  in  these  were  so  numer 
ous  and  so  constant  that  rhyme  must  have  appeared  rather  a  cheap 
form  for  poetry.  So  in  this  stage  we  find  the  Southern  Aryans  of 
Europe  employing  the  quantity  of  syllables  and  those  of  Northern 
Europe  the  coincidences  of  initial  sounds  (stabreim  or  alliteration) 
and  assonance  in  their  verse.  It  was  when  the  development  of 
languages  substituted  auxiliary  and  connecting  words  for  termina 
tions  that  the  coincidences  of  final  sounds  became  so  much  a 
source  of  pleasure  to  the  ear  as  to  justify  their  continuous  employ 
ment  for  that  purpose. 

But  besides  the  occasional  occurrence  of  rhyme  in  classic  poetry 
— as  in  Virgil's  famous/<?»  d' esprit, 

"  Sic  vos  non  vobis  edificatis  aves,"  etc. — 

there  seems  to  have  existed  forms  of  popular  Latin  verse  in  which 
rhyme  and  accent  held  the  place  which  quantity  held  in  classic 
poetry.  It  is  this  popular  form  of  verse  which  the  Church's  hymns 
began  to  reproduce,  just  as  they  also  in  many  cases  are  written  in 
that  lingua  rus/ica,  or  countrified  speech  of  the  peasantry  of  Italy 
and  France,  which  was  to  become  the  basis  of  the  Romance  lan 
guages.  It  is  a  matter  of  dispute  whether  the  Saturnian  verse- 
form,  to  whose  early  prevalence  and  prolonged  existence  among 
the  classes  not  pervaded  by  Greek  culture  Horace  alludes,  was 
based  on  an  accentual  scansion  or  merely  on  a  numbering  of 
syllables  and  a  rude  approach  to  quantity.  The  general  consensus 
of  scholars  is  that  the  Saturnian  metres  were  based  on  accent,  and 


44  LATIN  HYMNS. 

that  rhyme,  which  is  the  natural  and  invariable  product  of  the 
accentual  scansion,  was  also  in  use.* 

So  this  hidden  current  of  rhymed  and  accented  poetry  of  the 
common  people  rose  to  light  again  after  many  ages  in  the  hymns 
of  the  Western  Church.  Thus  Damasus  brings  us  to  the  parting 
of  the  ways.  In  Hilary,  Ambrose  and  his  school,  Prudentius, 
Ennodius,  Fortunatus,  Elpis,  Gregory,  and  Bede  we  have  the  per 
petuation  of  the  classic  tradition  of  quantitative  verse  in  the  service 
of  Christendom  and  for  the  ear  of  the  cultivated  classes.  And 
while  that  tradition  expires  in  the  Middle  Ages,  we  see  it  revive 
again  in  the  sacred  poets  of  the  Renaissance — in  Zacharius  Ferrari, 
George  Fabricius,  Marcus  Antonius  Muretus,  Famiano  Strada  and 
the  other  revisers  of  the  Roman  Breviary,  the  two  Santeuls  in  the 
Breviary  of  Clugny,  and  Charles  Coffin  in  the  Paris  Breviary. 
But  Damasus  stands  at  the  head  of  a  still  more  illustrious  line. 
Catching,  perhaps,  from  the  Etruscan  and  Sabine  peasants,  who 
thronged  the  Catacombs  on  the  day  when  the  Martyr  Agatha  was 
commemorated,  the  accents  of  the  popular  poetry,  he  became  the 
founder  of  the  tradition  which  lives  in  the  broader  current  of  Latin 
sacred  song.  In  this  line  of  succession  we  find  already  a  few  of 
the  Ambrosian  hymns,  and  then  a  long  series  in  which  the  two 
Bernards,  Adam  of  St.  Victor,  Thomas  of  Celano,  Thomas 
Aquinas,  and  Bonaventura  are  the  most  illustrious  names.  And 
as  indeed  the  tradition  of  accent  and  rhyme  seems  to  have  made 
its  way  into  the  literature  of  the  modern  world  through  the  Latin 
hymns,  Dante  and  all  the  great  poets  who  have  illustrated  its 
power  to  give  pleasure  might  be  said  to  belong  here. 

The  hymn  in  commemoration  of  the  Martyr  Agatha — whose 
story  of  suffering  and  triumph  had  seized  on  the  imagination  of 
the  people  as  did  those  of  the  martyrs  Cecilia  and  Sebastian — we 


*  See  Sir  Alexander  Crokt's  History  of  Rhyming  Verse.  Oxford,  1828  ; 
Ferdinand  Wolf's  standard  treatise,  Ueber  die  Lais,  Sequcnzen  und  Leiclie. 
Heidelberg,  1841  ;  August  Fuchs's  Die  Romanischen  Sprachcn  in  ihrem 
Verhallnisse  zum  Lateinischen,  Halle,  1849  I  W.  Corssen's  Ueber  die 
Aussprache,  Vokalismus  und  Betonung  der  Lateinischen  Sprache.  Leipzig, 
1868.  Also  Niebuhr's  article,  Ueber  das  Alter  des  Lieds  Lydia  bella  puella, 
in  the  third  volume  of  the  Rheinisches  Museum,  Bonn,  1829  ;  and  Mr.  S. 
V.  Cole's  paper  on  "  The  Development  of  Form  in  the  Latin  Hymns,"  in 
the  Andover  Review  for  October,  1888. 


POPE  DAM  ASUS  AND  THE  BEGINNING  OF  RHYME.  45 

give  with  the  English  version  of  the  Rev.  J.  Anketell,  which  he 
has  kindly  permitted  us  to  use. 

Martyris  ecce  dies  Agathae 
Virginis  emicat  eximiae, 
Christus  earn  Sibi  qua  social, 
Et  diadema  duplex  decorat. 

Stirpe  decens,  elegans  specie, 
Sed  magis  actibus  atque  fide  : 
Terrea  prospera  nil  reputans 
Jussa  Dei  sibi  corde  ligans. 

Fortior  haec  trucibusque  viris 
Exposuit  sua  membra  flagris, 
Pectore  quam  fuerit  valido 
Torta  mamilla  docet  patulo. 

Deliciae  cui  career  erat, 
Pastor  ovem  Petrus  hanc  recreat. 
Laetior  inde  magisque  flagrans 
Cuncta  flagella  cucurrit  ovans. 

Ethnica  turba  rogum  fugiens, 
Hujus  et  ipsa  meretur  opem  : 
Quos  fidei  titulus  decorat, 
His  Venerem  magis  ipsa  premat. 

Jam  renitens  quasi  sponsa  polo. 
Pro  misero  rogitet  Damaso, 
Sic  sua  festa  coli  facial, 
Se  celebrantibus  ut  faveat. 

Gloria  cum  Patre  sit  Genito, 
Spirituique  proinde  sacro, 
Qui  Deus  unus  et  omnipotens 
Hanc  nostri  facial  memorem. 

Fair  as  the  morn  in  the  deep  blushing  East, 
Dawns  the  bright  day  of  Saint  Agatha's  feast  ; 
Christ  who  has  borne  her  from  labor  to  rest, 
Crowns  her  as  Virgin  and  Martyr  most  blest. 

Noble  by  birth  and  of  beautiful  face, 
Richer  by  far  in  her  deeds  and  her  grace, 
Earth's  fleeting  honors  and  gains  she  despised, 
God's  holy  will  and  commandments  she  prized. 


46  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Braver  and  nobler  than  merciless  foes, 
Willing  her  limbs  to  the  scourge  to  expose  ; 
Weakly  she  sank  not  by  anguish  oppressed, 
When  cruel  torture  destroyed  her  fair  breast. 

Then  her  dark  dungeon  was  filled  with  delight, 
Peter  the  shepherd  refreshed  her  by  night ; 
Forth  to  her  tortures  rejoicing  she  went, 
Thanking  her  God  for  the  trials  he  sent. 

Barbarous  pagans,  escaping  their  doom, 

Honor  her  virtues  that  brighten  their  gloom  ; 

They  whom  the  title  of  faith  hath  adorned, 

Like  her,  earth's  possessions  and  pleasures  have  scorned. 

Radiant  and  glorious,  a  heavenly  bride, 
She  to  the  Lord  for  the  wretched  hath  cried  ; 
So  in  her  honor  your  praises  employ, 
That  ye  too  may  share  in  her  triumph  and  joy. 

Praise  to  the  Father  and  praise  to  the  Son, 
Praise  to  the  Spirit,  the  blest  Three  in  One ; 
God  of  all  might  in  Heaven's  glory  arrayed, 
Praise  for  thy  grace  in  thy  servant  displayed. 

It  will  be  observed  that  Mr.  Anketell,  in  the  second  line  of  the 
sixth  verse,  follows  the  reading  preferred  by  Daniel :  Pro  miseris 
supplied  Domino,  which  omits  the  Pope's  name.  But  it  seems 
much  more  unlikely  that  this  line  should  be  altered  to  the  line  as 
given  above,  than  that  the  contrary  change  should  have  been 
made.  Emendators  generally  pass  from  the  concrete  to  the  vague, 
from  the  specific  to  the  general. 


CHAPTER   V. 

AMBROSE. 

IT  would  appear  that  the  Ambrosian  hymns  obtained  much  of 
their  earliest  recognition  in  Spain.  At  least  so  runs  the  statement 
of  Cardinal  Thomasius,  who  edited  the  Mozarabic  (Spanish)  Brevi 
ary.  He  says  :  "  It  is  not  doubtful  that  in  the  seventh  century 
of  the  Church,  when  the  Spanish  Church  especially  flourished,  the 
Ambrosian  hymns  were  everywhere  in  vogue."  The  Concilium 
Agathense  (Council  of  Agde  in  Southern  France,  A.D.  506),  which 
concerned  itself  chiefly  with  matters  of  discipline,  ordained  that 
hymns  should  be  sung  morning  and  evening,  and  at  the'conclu- 
sion  of  matins,  vespers,  and  masses.  These  and  similar  enactments 
had  reference  to  the  body  of  hymns  which  had  received  the  name 
of  the  Bishop  of  Milan.  Then,  as  now,  they  formed  the  true 
fragrant  cedar-heart  of  the  old  psalmody,  and  it  is  from  their  struc 
ture  that  the  Council  of  Toledo  (633)  drew  its  famous  definition. 
The  Council  said  :  ' '  Proprie  autem  hymni  sunt  continentes  laudem 
Dei.  Si  ergo  sit  laus,  el  non  sit  Dei,  non  est  hymnus.  Si  sit  el 
laus  Dei  laus  [stc]  et  non  cantalur  non  est  hymnus.  Si  ergo  laudem 
Dei  dicitur  et  caniatur,  tune  est  hymnus."  That  is  to  say  : 
"  Hymns  properly  contain  the  praise  of  God.  If  therefore  there 
be  praise,  but  not  of  God,  this  is  no  hymn.  If  there  be  praise, 
praise  of  God,  but  not  capable  of  being  sung,  this  is  no  hymn. 
If  therefore  the  praise  of  God  be  both  composed  and  sung,  it  is 
then  a  hymn." 

•  The  author  who  is  thus  honored  as  the  first  great  leader  of  the 
Church's  praise  was  born  at  Treves,  in  Gaul,  about  the  year  340 
(or,  as  some  say,  334).  His  father  was  a  Roman  noble  who 
became  praetorian  prefect  of  the  province  of  Gallia  Narbonensis ; 
and  as  Hither  Gaul  was  an  important  region,  it  can  be  easily  seen 
that  the  young  Ambrose  was  reared  in  the  midst  of  wealth  and 
power.  His  mother  was  a  learned  woman  and  he  naturally  im 
bibed  letters  as  he  grew  up.  A  tradition,  which  is  probably  based 


4g  LATIN  HYMNS. 

on  fact,  assures  us  that  even  in  his  cradle  he  was  marked  for  fame. 
A  swarm  of  bees  came  down  upon  him,  and  the  amazed  nurse 
saw  them  clustered  about  his  very  mouth  without  harming  him. 
This  was  the  same  prodigy  which  had  been  related  of  Plato,  and 
hence  his  parents  imagined  a  high  destiny  for  the  lad.     It  was  in 
deed  a  singular  and  suggestive  commentary  on  his  future  1 
He  preserved  his  equanimity  amid  a  great  deal  of  buzzing  ;  and 
the  sweetness  of  his  speech  won  to  him  no  less  a  convert  than  the 
great  Augustine.     His  entire  career  was  worthy  of  the  saintec 
Sotheria,  his  ancestress,    who  was  martyred  for  the  faith  under 

Diocletian. 

He  appears  to  us  a  man  of  both  character  and  conscience, 
education  was  given  him  at  Rome,  and  his  brother  Satyrus  and 
himself  went  to  Milan  to  practice  at  the  bar.  His  success  as  a 
pleader  was  great.  He  became  first  assessor  to  the  prefect  with 
the  rank  of  Cotisularis,  whose  headquarters  were  now  at  Milan  ; 
and  subsequently  he  took  charge  of  Liguria  and  Emilia.  For  in 
369  we  find  him,  by  appointment  of  the  Emperor  Valentiman. 
prefect  of  Upper  Italy  and  Milan.  His  position  is  sometimes 
styled  that  of  "  consular,"  sometimes  that  of  "governor,"  and 
sometimes  that  of  "praetor"  or  imperial  president,  which  last  u 
perhaps  the  easiest  designation  for  modern  ears  and  carries  the 
plainest  meaning  with  it 

Now  Milan  was  the  capital  of  Liguria  and  it  was  the  business 
of  the  praetor  to  preside  in  the  stead  of  the  Emperor  over  the 
choice  of  a  bishop.  Auxentius,  an  Arian,  who  had  held  this 
office  died  in  374  and  a  new  election  was  necessary.  This  was 
not  an  easy  matter,  for  the  feud  between  the  Catholics  and  the 
Arians  was  at  fever-heat,  and  rioting  and  bloodshed  were  very 
certain  to  occur. 

The  praetor  called  to  mind  the  advice  of  Probus,  prefect  of  Italy, 
who  had  once  charged  him  to  administer  the  affairs  of  his  region 
"  like  a  bishop."  He  therefore  tried  to  cast  oil  upon  the  waters. 
His  genial  gravity  and  calm  serenity  of  spirit  aided  the  impression 
he  meant  to  produce.  Both  factions  gazed  upon  him  with  delight. 
His  attitude  was  so  unpartisan  as  to  charm  everybody,  and  it  was 
very  natural  that  this  eloquent  representative  of  the  Emperor 
should  carry  the  suffrages  of  the  throng.  And  just  when  the  in 
terest  was  most  intense  and  the  confidence  greatest,  a  child  cried 


AMBROSE.  49 

out,  "  Let  Ambrose  be  bishop,"  and  the  crowd  caught  the  con 
tagion  at  once. 

In  later  days  it  was  maliciously  said  that  Ambrose  had  himself 
contrived  this  scene  with  an  eye  to  the  stage  effect — that  for  all  his 
apparent  humility  the  coming  bishop  set  store  by  the  office  and 
wanted  to  obtain  it — that,  in  short,  his  reluctance  to  receive  it  and 
even  his  precipitate  flight  from  the  city  were  prearranged  !  More 
than  this,  it  has  been  asserted  that  the  various  schemes  and  subter 
fuges  to  avoid  becoming  bishop  were  known  to  and  abetted  by  his 
friends,  who  were  of  the  orthodox  party  and  desired  to  have  their 
candidate  elected.  The  best  reply  that  can  be  given  is  the  char 
acter  of  the  man  himself.  Such  a  person  must  have  entertained 
the  highest  reverence  for  such  an  office.  In  his  administration  of 
its  cares  and  duties  he  showed  a  conscious  supremacy  over  every 
worldly  consideration.  In  his  final  acceptance  of  it  he  evinced  no 
less  of  self-denial  than  of  sincerity.  And  it  is  incredible  that  so 
mighty  a  mind  as  that  of  Augustine  could  have  been  caught  by 
the  glittering  emptiness  of  a  hypocritical  or  self-seeking  nature. 
We  may  well  charge  these  calumnies  to  their  proper  sources — 
those,  namely,  of  disappointed  ambition  or  of  envious  malignity. 

The  record  of  this  endeavor  to  escape  office  reads  singularly  j 
enough.  He  first  put  some  criminals  to  the  torture,  hoping  by  > 
this  means  to  shock  the  people  through  his  hard-hearted  justice. 
When  this  would  not  do  he  avowed  philosophic  rather  than  Chris 
tian  sentiments.  Having  again  failed,  he  welcomed  some  very 
profligate  persons — men  and  women — to  his  palace  in  a  way  to  \ 
invite  scandal.  This  expedient  being  also  detected  he  actually 
escaped  from  the  city  by  night,  but  lost  his  way  and  found  himself 
in  front  of  the  gates  when  morning  dawned.  This  being  his 
fourth  unavailing  effort,  he  fled  to  a  friend's  house  in  the  country, 
begging  that  he  might  lie  hidden  there  until  the  first  rush  of  feel 
ing  had  been  stemmed  and  he  could  hope  for  calmer  consideration 
of  his  refusal.  But  the  friend  immediately  betrayed  him  for  his 
own  good,  and  this  well-meant  treachery  fastened  the  mitre  firmly 
on  his  brow.  Basil  the  Great  gloried  in  this  new  coadjutor  ;  and  at 
the  age  of  thirty-four  or  thereabouts,  he  himself  became  convinced 
that  he  could  struggle  no  longer  against  his  fate. 

It  was  thus  that  Ambrose  finally  assumed  the  episcopate,  and  it 
was  soon  evident  that  this  catechumen — for  he  had  not  even  been 


50  LATIN  HYMNS. 

previously  baptized — respected  its  dignities  and  meant  that  others 
should  be  of  the  same  mind  as  himself.  He  gave  up  his  private 
fortune,  selling  his  large  estates  and  personal  property,  and  re 
serving  from  them  only  a  proper  allowance  to  his  sister  Marcellina, 
who  had  eaily  taken  the  vow  of  virginity.  He  associated  with  this 
proceeding  the  most  strict  method  of  living.  "  He  accepted  no 
invitations  to  banquets  ;  took  dinner  only  on  Sunday,  Saturday, 
and  the  festivals  of  celebrated  martyrs  ;  devoted  the  greater  part  of 
the  night  to  prayer,  to  the  hitherto  necessarily  neglected  study  of 
the  Scriptures  and  the  Greek  fathers  and  to  theological  writing  ; 
preached  every  Sunday  and  often  in  the  week  ;  was  accessible  to 
all,  most  accessible  to  the  poor  and  needy  ;  and  administered  his 
spiritual  oversight,  particularly  his  instruction  of  catechumens, 
with  the  greatest  fidelity." 

This  is  the  character,  admirably  condensed,  of  a  model  bishop. 
To  its  fulfilment  it  requires  the  fervent  piety  of  a  true  Christian 
and  the  constant  zeal  of  an  acute  student  together  with  the  large 
prudence  of  a  man  of  affairs.  All  these  are  abundantly  found  in 
Ambrose.  And  if  it  happened  that  in  other  and  worse  times  his 
assertion  of  the  spiritual  independence  of  a  bishop  gave  a  founda 
tion  for  what  became  the  authority  of  the  pope,  it  may  be  properly 
retorted  that  for  him  not  to  have  done  so  then  would  have  pre 
vented  many  another  better  thing  in  later  ages. 

He  was  a  more  polished  scholar  than  Hilary,  and  a  more  devout 
Christian  than  Damasus.  Hence  it  was  that  his  energy  and  skill 
contributed  largely  to  the  success  of  the  Nicene  orthodoxy  in  the 
West.  Those  times  were  troublous,  and  a  cheerful  and  sunshiny 
temper  like  that  of  Ambrose  was  a  vast  auxiliary  to  the  cause.  He 
had  been  consecrated  in  374,  eight  days  after  his  election  ;  and  in 
382  he  presided  at  the  synod  in  Aquileia  which  deposed  Palladius 
and  Secundianus,  the  Arian  bishops.  By  so  doing,  and  by  his 
general  attitude,  he  incurred  the  anger  of  Justina,  whose  son, 
the  younger  Valentinian,  he  always  upheld  and  shielded.  The 
Empress,  however,  determined  to  deal  with  him  a  good  deal  as 
Ahab's  wife  dealt  with  Elijah.  This  comparison  takes  additional 
point  from  the  use  which  Ambrose  himself  made  of  the  story  of 
Naboth  in  his  defence  of  the  Portian  Church. 

He  had  already  encountered  the  smouldering  idolatry  of  old 
Rome,  .headed  by  the  rhetorician,  Symmachus  ;  but  the  eloquence 


AMBROSE.  51 

of  Ambrose  had  borne  down  all  opposition  and  that  conflict  was 
now  at  an  end.  A  vindictive  woman  was,  however,  a  greater 
danger  than  a  clever  orator,  and  he  found  this  true  when  Justina, 
the  Empress-mother,  allied  herself  with  the  heretical  Arians.  His 
pious  zeal  was  kindled  in  a  moment.  Give  up  churches  to  such 
a  schismatic  set  as  these  ?  Never  ! 

It  was  at  Easter  in  the  year  386  that  the  Portian  Church  and 
its  holy  vessels  were  demanded  for  the  use  of  the  other  party. 
Then  stood  up  both  the  old  Roman  and  the  new  Christian  in  the 
single  person  of  the  Bishop  of  Milan.  He  compared  the  demand 
to  that  of  Ahab  for  Naboth's  vineyard  ;  and  it  may  well  be  sup 
posed  that  with  the  rush  of  such  a  torrent  of  speech  a  current  of 
inference  was  also  borne  along  which  involved  Justina  herself. 
The  sermon,  which  has  survived  to  us,  was  preached  on  Palm 
Sunday,  and  in  it  he  said  that  he  would  hold  every  religious  edifice 
against  heresy  to  the  very  death.  Let  them  take  his  property  ;  let 
them  depose  or  destroy  himself ;  let  them  do  their  worst — but  for 
his  part  he  would  sland  there  unshaken  for  the  truth.  He  would 
not  incite  riot  and  confusion,  but  he  would  not  yield.  It  was  the 
anticipation  of  Luther's  "  Hier  slehe  ich,  ich  kann  nicht  anders I 
Gott  helfe  mir  /"  For  Ambrose  proclaimed,  almost  in  these 
actual  words,  ' '  Here  I  stand,  I  cannot  do  otherwise.  God  help 


me 


He  made  one  magnificent  point  in  this  discourse — the  focal 
centre  it  was  of  the  entire  outburst  of  eloquent  declamation.  It 
was  when  he  quoted  what  our  Lord  Himself  had  said.  "  Yes," 
cries  Ambrose,  "  give  to  Caesar  what  is  Caesar's,  but  give  to  God 
what  is  God's.  Is  the  Church  the  property  of  Caesar?  Never! 
It  belongs  unalterably  to  God.  For  God,  then,  it  shall  be  kept. 
It  shall  never  be  surrendered  to  Caesar. " 

The  fight  was  really  a  siege.  The  sacred  character  of  the 
churches  protected  their  defenders.  Ambrose  invigorated  the 
multitude  who  flocked  to  help  him,  and  who  organized  relief 
parties  to  keep  possession  by  day  and  by  night.  To  relieve  the 
monotony  of  their  watches,  he  frequently  addressed  them  words 
of  encouragement.  His  fine  equanimity  triumphed  over  the  im 
pending  disaster.  He  taught  the  people  there  and  then  the  hymns 
of  the  early  Church.  He  composed  tunes  and  instructed  them  in 
singing.  And  when  at  last  he  was  able  to  discover  the  bodies  of 


52  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Gervasius  and  Protasius,  the  ancient  martyrs,  he  kindled  in  the 
spirits  of  his  hearers  such  a  fire  that  the  popular  voice  was  heeded 
even  by  the  throne  itself,  and  Justina  was  defeated  and  gave  up 
the  struggle.  The  court  actually  retreated  before  the  authority  of 
the  Church.  And  from  that  moment,  and  that  other  memorable 
moment  when  he  arraigned  Theodosius,  Ambrose  delivered  the 
power  of  the  bishop's  crozier  from  any  interference  coming  from 
the  Emperor's  sceptre.  Those  were  the  days  when  the  pastoral 
staff  might  be  of  wood,  but  the  man  who  wielded  it  was  of  pure 
gold. 

This  account  needs  the  story  of  Theodosius  to  be  immediately 
attached  to  it  in  order  to  make  it  stand  out  in  its  true  relation  to 
the  character  of  Ambrose.  The  bishop  met  three  great  enemies 
during  his  career.  First  appeared  Idolatry,  championed  by 
Symmachus  ;  then  followed  Heresy,  championed  by  Justina  ;  and 
now  came  Despotism,  behind  which  stood  the  beloved  Theodosius, 
the  Emperor-pupil,  with  his  hands  red  from  the  massacre  of  Thes- 
salonica.  The  facts  were  these  :  a  tumult  had  arisen  in  the  circus 
at  that  place  ;  Botheric,  an  imperial  officer,  had  been  killed  ;  and 
the  Emperor  had  in  revenge  put  very  many  people  to  death.  Some 
have  even  run  the  figures  up  to  the  incredible  altitude  of  thirty 
thousand,  and  the  massacre  has  been  always  regarded  as  involving 
seven  thousand  victims  at  the  lowest  estimate.  It  was  a  brutal  and 
a  horrible  act,  and  Ambrose  came  out  as  Nathan  did  before  David 
and  denounced  it  with  the  most  withering  reproaches.  The 
Emperor  cowered  and  bent  before  this  sirocco  of  the  truth.  The 
speaker  was  poised  so  high  above  him  in  the  assured  calm  of  a 
steady  rectitude  that  Theodosius  could  do  nothing  except  yield. 
And  yield  he  did  ;  and  for  eight  months  he  paid  penance  before 
he  was  restored.  It  was  the  penance  of  the  German  Henry  which 
hastened  the  Reformation  ;  it  was  the  humiliation  of  Theodosius 
which  preserved  both  rights  and  dignities  to  the  Church. 

There  is  another  side  of  Ambrose,  and  one  on  which  Protestants 
will  love  to  dwell.  While  his  great  disciple  Augustine  lent  the 
weight  of  his  authority  to  the  doctrine  that  civil  constraint  might 
be  used  to  bring  men  to  orthodox  beliefs,  Ambrose  always  de 
nounced  that.  When  Valentinian  II.  sent  him  to  Trier  to  nego 
tiate  with  the  rebel  Maximus,  in  the  winter  of  383-84,  Ambrose 
— like  his  contemporary,  Martin  of  Tours  -refused  to  have  any 


AMBROSE.  53 

communion  with  the  bishops  who  recognized  Maximus  as  Em 
peror,  not  on  political  grounds,  but  because  they  had  obtained 
the  execution  of  certain  Spanish  Priscillianists  for  heresy.  This 
was  the  first  blood-stain  on  the  white  garments  of  the  Church — 
the  first  in  the  long  line  of  such  sins  against  the  Word  and  Spirit 
of  Christ.  Yet  Adrian  VI.  appealed  to  it  as  a  precedent  against 
Luther,  and  described  the  usurper  as  one  of  "  the  ancient  and 
pious  emperors. "  In  this  he  followed  the  example  of  his  infal 
lible  predecessor,  Leo  I.,  who,  in  447,  declared  there  would  be 
an  end  of  all  law,  human  and  divine,  if  such  heretics  were  allowed 
to  live  ! 

As  an  orator  and  writer,  Ambrose's  strength  lay  in  the  simple 
direct  plunge  of  his  sentences,  wide  and  grand  and  forceful  as  the 
launching  of  a  great  bowlder  down  a  mountain  path.  And  Mr. 
Simcox  has  noticed  that  the  words  which  are  used  to  describe  his 
rhetorical  power  are  almost  all  derived  from  eloqui.  The  other 
assemblage  of  expressions,  drawn  from  disertus  and  the  like,  refer 
to  the  logical  or  learned  weight  of  an  argument.  But  what  struck 
every  one  in  the  case  of  Ambrose  was  that  he  let  the  truth  come 
mightily,  just  as  he  felt  and  believed  it,  with  a  swing  and  a  vigor 
which  was  the  outburst  of  his  own  majestic  soul.  It  was  this 
which  won  his  victories.  It  was  this  power  of  sincerity  whicli 
made  him  the  counsellor  of  Theodosius  and  the  instructor  of 
Gratian  as  well  as  the  guardian  of  Valentinian  II.  It  was  this  un 
shrinking  forwardness  of  movement  which  led  him  to  oppose  the 
rebuilding  of  the  Jews'  synagogue  ;  they  had  denied  the  Lord 
Jesus — let  their  house  burn  !  But  a  victory  more  Christian  was 
gained  when  thirty  days  of  respite  were  fixed  by  his  intercession 
between  the  sentence  and  execution  of  criminals.  And  although 
the  defence  of  "Virginity,"  as  Ambrose  conducted  it,  was  the 
mainspring  of  the  conventual  idea,  and  was  afterward  vigorously 
used  for  that  purpose,  it  is  again  plain  that  he  advocated  what  he 
believed  and  what  he  himself  devoutly  practised.  He  shines  upon 
us,  from  every  angle  of  vision,  as  a  character  most  pure,  serene, 
and  brave. 

The  siege  in  the  basilica  at  Milan  had  an  important  bearing  on 
the  whole  future  of  the  Christian  Church.  Augustine  tells  us  how 
his  mother  Monica  had  followed  him  to  Milan,  and  how  when 
there  "  she  hastened  the  more  eagerly  to  the  church  and  hung 


54  LATIN  HYMNS. 

upon  the  lips  of  Ambrose."  (Aug.  Conf.,  B.  vi. )  "  That  man," 
he  continues,  "she  loved  as  an  angel  of  God  because  she  knew 
that  by  him  I  had  been  brought  to  that  doubtful  state  of  faith  I 
now  was  in."  She  evidently  anticipated  that  so  eloquent  a 
preacher  would  complete  the  work  that  he  had  been  permitted  to 
begin.  As  for  Augustine  himself,  he  felt  "  shut  out  both  from 
his  ear  and  speech  by  multitudes  of  busy  people  whose  weaknesses 
he  served." 

How  finely,  by  the  way,  this  very  expression  illustrates  the 
greatness  of  Ambrose's  character  and  the  unselfishness  of  his  life  ! 
We  get  also  a  picture  of  the  man  as  a  student — one  whose  voice 
would  become  worn  by  any  extended  public  speaking,  and  who 
therefore  read  to  himself  in  his  private  studies  in  a  manner  unusual 
apparently  in  that  age — namely,  as  we  do  now,  without  opening 
his  lips  or  articulating  the  words.  The  effect  of  Justina's  persecu 
tion  is  also  given  most  graphically.  (Aug.  Conf.,  B.  ix. )  For 
Augustine,  having  first  told  us  how  these  heavenly  voices  fell  upon 
his  ear,  says  that  his  mother  "  bore  a  chief  part  of  those  anxieties 
and  watchings"  and  "lived  for  prayer."  At  this  date,  he  em 
phatically  declares,  "  it  was  first  instituted  that  after  the  manner 
of  the  Eastern  churches,  hymns  and  psalms  should  be  sung  lest 
the  people  should  wax  faint  through  the  tediousness  of  sorrow  ; 
and  from  that  day  to  this  the  custom  is  retained,  divers  (yea, 
almost  all)  congregations  throughout  other  parts  of  the  world 
following  herein. "  It  is  he,  moreover,  who  tells  us  that  the  two 
martyrs'  bodies  were  transferred  to  that  Ambrosian  church  erected 
in  387,  and  where  afterward  were  placed  the  bones  of  its  great 
founder  ;  which  was  spared  by  Barbarossa  in  1162,  and  which,  as 
the  church  of  San  Ambrogio,  still  occupies  its  old  site  in  Milan. 
Thus  we  have  the  most  important  of  contemporary  testimony  to 
some  of  these  troublous  scenes. 

Of  the  Ambrosian  hymns  themselves  a  great  deal  may  be  said. 
It  is  better  to  confine  one's  self  rather,  therefore,  to  results  than  to 
the  long  processes  which  have  led  thither.  But  it  is  impossible  to 
agree  with  Dr.  Neale  and  Archbishop  Trench,  who  say  of  them 
that  "  there  is  a  certain  coldness  in  them — an  aloofness  of  the 
author  from  his  subject."  This  is  one  of  those  bits  of  critical 
misapprehension  which  lead  us  to  doubt  the  infallibility  of  even  so 
admirable  a  judgment  as  that  of  the  warden  of  Sackville  College. 


AMBROSE.  55 

The  truth  is  that  Dr.  Neale  admired  gorgeousness  and  the  splendor 
of  ritual.  He  praises  the  Pange  lingua  of  Aquinas  altogether  too 
much  and  he  praises  Ambrose  altogether  too  little.  A  simple  and 
reverent  spirit  cannot  be  said  to  experience,  as  he  does,  a  "  feel 
ing  of  disappointment"  before  this  which  he  calls  "  an  altar  of 
unhewn  stone."  This  single  phrase  exposes  the  delusion. 
"  Unhewn  stone"  is  not  to  Dr.  Neale's  nor  to  Archbishop  Trench's 
churchly  taste,  while  it  is  precisely  upon  such  an  altar  as  that 
(Ex.  20  :  25)  that  God  was  ready  to  let  His  flame  descend.  The 
latest  judgment — that  of  Mr.  Simcox — (Latin  Literature,  vol.  ii., 
405) — is  decidedly  preferable:  "  They  all  have  the  character  of 
deep,  spontaneous  feeling,  flowing  in  a  clear,  rhythmical  current, 
and  show  a  more  genuine  literary  feeling  than  the  prose  works." 
To  any  one  who  is  at  all  familiar  with  the  Ambrosian  hymns  this 
will  at  once  commend  itself  as  the  better  criticism. 

We  may  pause  a  moment  to  inquire  about  the  chants  which 
bear  his  name,  but  we  shall  have  slight  enough  information. 
Four  tunes  are  traditional  :  the  Dorian,  Phrygian,  Lydian,  and 
Mixed  Lydian.  What  these  were  and  how  they  were  sung,  we  do 
not  accurately  know.  We  do  know,  however,  that  Ambrose  em 
ployed  but  four  notes  (the  tetrachord}  where  we  have  subdivided 
the  various  tones  into  the  octave.  The  Germans  do  not  profess 
to  tell  us  anything  more  definite  than  this. 

The  actual  hymns  are  to  be  reckoned  up  in  several  ways.  First 
comes  the  mass  of  Ambrosiani,  including  hymns  of  Gregory  the 
Great  and  of  other  and  much  later  authors.  Many  have  been 
foisted  into  this  category  because  they  were  found  in  old  breviaries 
and  manuscripts.  Then  from  these  we  may  separate  \bzpreiwned 
originals — of  which  a  large  proportion  are  now  known  to  belong 
to  other  writers.  These  misapprehensions  are  due  to  such  com 
pilers  as  Fabricius,  Cassander,  Clichtove,  and  Thomasius,  who 
were  not  invariably  correct  and  who  perpetuated  their  designations 
through  later  works.  Still  a  third  class  are  the  possible  originals, 
selected  by  the  judicious  but  not  always  accurate  zeal  of  the  Bene 
dictines  of  St.  Maur  when  they  edited  the  collected  works  of  the 
great  bishop.  And  last  of  all  can  be  placed  the  probable  originals 
— those  hymns  which  are  authenticated  by  Augustine  and  by  St 
Caelestin  (A.D.  430),  together  with  those  in  structure  closely 
resembling  them. 


56  LATIN  HYMNS. 

For  our  own  purposes  a  fifth  class  can  even  yet  be  formed  from 
the  last  named  group — the  undoubted  originals,  which  will  com 
prise  only  those  attested  by  contemporary  authority. 

The  list  would  stand  then  in  the  order  of  authenticity,  about  as 

follows  : 

I. 

Deus  Creator  omnium,  \ 

Aeterne  rerum  conditor,          I  Attested  by  St  Augustine. 
Jam  surgit  hora  tertia,  Qua    ) 
Veni  Redemptor  gentium.     Referred  to  directly  by  St.  Caelestin. 

These  are  the  undoubted  hymns  and  the  only  hymns  to  be  safely 
assigned  to  Ambrose. 

II. 

Aeterna  Christi  numera,  et  martyrum, 
Ittuminans  altissimus, 
Orabo  mente  dominum, 

(from  Bis  ternis  horas,) 
Splendor  paternae  gloriae. 

These  are  the  probable  hymns. 

III. 

Apostolorum  passio,  O  rex  aeterne  domine, 

Condilor  alme  siderum,  Rector  potens,  verax  Deus, 

Consors  paterni  lumims,  Rerum  Deus  lenax  "vigor, 

Hie  est  dies  verus  Dei,  Somno  refectis  artubus, 

Jam  lucis  orto  sidere,  Squalent    arva     soli   pulvere 
Nunc  sancte  nobis  Spiritus,  multo, 

O  lux  beata  Trinitas,  Summae  Deus  clementiae, 

Obduxere  polum  nubila  coeli,  Tr  isles  erant  apostoli. 

These  have,  for  one  reason  or  another,  been  assigned  to  Am 
brose.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  Tristes  erant  is  a  part  of 
the  Aurora  lucis  rutilat,  and  that  in  many  cases  the  hymns  are 
very  much  intermingled.  A  rigid  designation  is  therefore  impos 
sible.  The  fourth  class  comprehends  what  may  be  called  Ambro- 
siani — the  Sedulian  and  Gregorian  and  other  hymns  being  simply 
excluded  from  the  list. 


AMBROSE. 


57 


IV. 


Aeternae  lucis  condilor, 

Agnis  beatae  virginis, 

Aposiolorum  supparem, 

A  soils  orius  cardine  El  usque, 

Aurora  lucis  rulilat, 

Bis  lernas  horas  explicans, 

Cerium  tenentes  ordinem, 

Christe  coelorum  condilor, 

Christe    cunctorum    dominator 

alme, 

Christe  qui  lux  es  et  dies, 
Christe  rex  coeli  domine, 
Christe  redemptor  gentium, 
Cibis  resumptis  congruis, 
Coeli  Deus  sanctissime, 
Convexa  so/is  orbila, 
Dei  fide,  qua  vivimus, 
Deus  aeterni  luminis, 
Deus  qui  certis  legibus, 
Deus  qui  claro  lumine, 
Deus  qui  coeli  lumen  es, 
Dicamus  laudes  Domino, 
Diet  luce  reddita. 
Fulgentis  auctor  aetheris, 
Gesta  sanctorum  martyrum, 
Grates  tibi  Jesu  novas, 
Hymnum  dicamus  Domino, 
Immense  coeli  condilor, 
Jam  cursus  horae  sextae, 
Jam  lucis  splendor  rutilat, 
Jam  sexta  sensim  volvilur, 
Jam  surgit  hora  lertia,  El  nos, 
Jam  ter  quaternis  trahitur, 


Jesu  corona  celsior, 
Jesu  corona  virginum, 
Jesu  noslra  redemptio, 
Magnae  Deus  potentiae, 
Magni palmam  certaminis, 
Mediae  noclis  tempus  est, 
Meridie  orandum  est, 
Miraculum  laudabile, 
Mysteriorum  signifer, 
Mysterium  ecclesiae, 
Nox  air  a  rerum  coniegii, 
Oplalus  votis  omnium, 
Perfectum  trinum  numerum, 
Plasmator  hominis  Deus, 
Post  matutinas  laudes, 
Rerum  creator  oplime, 
Sacratum  hoc  templum  Dei, 
Saevus   bella     sen'/    barbarus 

horrens, 

Stephana  primo  martyri, 
Telluris  ingens  condilor, 
Te  lucis  ante  termium, 
Tempus  noctis  surgentibus, 
Ter  hora  trina  volvilur, 
Term's  ter  horis  numerus, 
Tristes   nunc   populi,    Christe 

redemptor, 
Tu  Trinitatis  unitas, 
Verbum  supernum  prodiens,  a 

Pa/re, 

Victor,  Nabor,  Felix  pii, 
Vox  clara  ecce  intonat. 


While  these  are  often  known  to  be  mere  paraphrases  of  Am 
brose's  own  homilies,  or  imitations  of  his  hymns,  they  are  as  fre 
quently  found  to  possess  his  spirit  and  almost  the  very  forms  of 
his  verse.  Thus  Daniel  says  of  the  Ter  hora  trina  that  it  is  "  not 


5 8  LATIN  HYMNS. 

unworthy' '  of  Ambrose  himself.  We  also  find  many  cases  where 
the  Roman  Breviary  has  altered  the  first  line  as  well  as  changed 
the  arrangement  of  the  stanzas. 

The  last  class  are  those  hymns,  formerly  called  Ambrosian,  but 
now  known  to  be  the  work  of  other  hands.  They  are  given  with 
their  authors'  names  appended. 

V. 

Ad  coenam  Agni  providi.  j  An  ancient  hymn,  older  possibly  than 

(Ad  regias  Agni.)          (  Ambrose  or  Hilary. 

Aeterna  Chrisli  unmera  nos.     A  mediaeval  patchwork. 
Aeterna  coeli gloria.     An  Abcedary  of  later  date. 

A      ,7  .     .  .     (  Found  at  Milan    among  Ambrosian 

Agathae  sanctae  virgmis.  \ 

(  hymns. 

Almi  prophetae  progenies.     Time  of  Ennodius,  sixth  century. 

^i   •  t-     i-j-     (  Versification  of  Ambrose  on  the  Incarna- 
Amore  Chnsti  nohhs.  \ 

tion,  cap.  3. 

A       ,.  •,•        A  j  (  "An  Abcedary   arranged  by 

A  sous  or /us  car  dine,  Ad  usque.  \  ' 

(         Sedulius. — NEALE. 

Aurora  jam  spargit  polum.     "  Incognitus  auctor. " — CASSANDER. 

Bellalor  armis  inclytus.      "  Ein  altes  Lied." — MONE. 

Ex  more  docti  mystico.  — GREGORY. 

Fit porta  Chrisli  pervia.     Part  of  A  solis  ortus. — SEDULIUS. 

Jam  Christus  asira  ascender  at. — GREGORY. 

Lucis  creator  optime.  — GREGORY. 

Here,  then,  we  have  what  may  be  called  substantially  the  earli 
est  hymn-book  of  the  Latin  Church.  Of  course  there  were  other 
hymns  which  were  very  soon  separated  and  properly  assigned,  but 
not  until  the  fifteenth  century  was  any  intelligent  analysis  at 
tempted,  and  it  is  even  now — as  can  be  easily  seen — a  matter  not 
of  dogmatic  certainty,  but  of  scholarly  authority  and  inherent 
probability.  It  may  not  be  improper  to  add,  however,  that  in 
these  hymns  we  find  some  of  the  purest  and  most  pious  of  praises. 
The  honor  of  the  Virgin  Mother  and  of  the  saints  has  not  yet  been 
attempted.  The  martyrs,  Stephen  and  Agnes  and  Agatha,  are  alone 
mentioned,  if  we  except  an  occasional  and  somewhat  doubtful 
tribute  to  others.  These  are  hymns  of  worship  and  of  prayer — of 
adoration  and  of  fellowship. 


AMBROSE.  59 

As  a  handful  of  grain  from  a  great  granary,   here  are  four  ver 
sions  of  hymns  counted  as  among  Ambrose's  best : 

DEUS  CREATOR  OMNIUM. 

Maker  of  all,  the  Lord, 

And  ruler  in  the  height, 
Thy  care  doth  robe  the  day  in  peace, 

Thou  givest  sleep  by  night. 

Let  rest  refresh  our  limbs 

For  toil,  though  wearied  now, 
And  let  our  troubled  minds  be  calm, 

And  smooth  the  anxious  brow. 

We  sing  our  thanks,  for  day 

Is  gone  and  night  appears  ; 
Our  vows  and  prayers  in  contrite  hope 

Are  lifted  to  thine  ears. 

To  thee  the  deepest  soul, 

To  thee  the  tuneful  voice, 
To  thee  the  chaste  affections  turn. 

In  thee  our  minds  rejoice. 

That  when  black  depths  of  gloom 

Have  hid  the  day  from  sight, 
Our  faith  may  tread  no  darkening  path, 

And  night  by  faith  be  bright. 

And  let  no  slumber  seize 

That  mind  which  must  not  sleep, 
Whose  faith  must  keep  its  virtue  fresh, 

Whose  dreams  may  not  be  deep. 

When  sensual  things  are  done 

Our  loftiest  thought  is  thine, 
Nor  fear  of  unseen  enemies 

Can  break  such  peace  divine. 

To  Christ  and  to  the  Father  now, 

And  to  the  Spirit  equally, 
We  pray  for  every  favoring  gift. 

One  God  supreme,  a  Trinity. 


60  LATIN  HYMNS. 


SPLENDOR    PATERNAE  GLORIAE. 

O  splendor  of  the  Father's  face, 

Affording  light  from  light, 
Thou  Light  of  light,  thou  fount  of  grace, 

Thou  day  of  day  most  bright. 

O  shine  upon  us,  perfect  Sun, 
With  lasting  brightness  shine  ; 

Let  radiance  from  the  Spirit  run, 
Our  senses  to  refine. 

To  thee,  our  Father,  do  we  pray. 

Whose  glory  endeth  not, 
That  thine  almighty  favor  may 

Remove  each  sinful  spot. 

He  fills  our  deeds  with  heavenly  strength, 

He  blunts  the  look  of  hate, 
He  ends  our  weary  lot  at  length, 

Or  gives  us  grace  to  wait. 


HIC   EST   DIES   VERUS   DEI. 

This  is  the  very  day  of  God, 

Serene  with  holy  light, 
On  which  the  pure  atoning  blood 

Has  cleansed  the  world  aright. 

Restoring  hope  to  lost  mankind, 
Enlightening  darkened  eyes, 

Relieving  fear  in  us  who  find 
The  thief  in  Paradise. 

• 
Who,  changing  swiftly  cross  for  crown, 

By  one  brief  glance  of  trust, 
Beheld  God's  Kingdom  shining  down, 
And  followed  Christ  the  Just. 

The  very  angels  stand  amazed, 

Beholding  such  a  sight, 
And  such  a  trusting  sinner  raised 

To  blessed  life  and  light. 


AMBROSE.  6 1 

O  mystery  beyond  our  thought, 

To  take  earth's  stain  away, 
And  lift  the  burden  sin  hath  brought, 

And  cleanse  this  coarser  clay. 

What  deed  can  more  sublime  appear  ? 

For  sorrow  seeks  (or  grace, 
And  love  releases  mortal  fear, 

And  death  renews  the  race. 

Death  seizes  on  the  bitter  barb, 

And  binds  herself  thereto, 
And  life  is  clad  in  deathly  garb, 

And  life  shall  rise  anew. 

When  death  through  earth  has  made  her  path. 

Then  all  the  dead  shall  rise, 
And  death,  consumed  by  heavenly  wrath, 

In  groans,  and  lonely,  dies. 


O   LUX    BEATA   TRINITAS. 

O  blessed  light,  the  Trinity, 

In  Unity  of  primal  love — 
Now  that  the  burning  sun  has  gone, 

Our  hearts  illumine  from  above. 

Thee,  in  the  morn  with  songs  of  praise, 

Thee,  at  the  evening  time,  we  seek  ; 
Thee,  through  all  ages  we  adore. 

And,  suppliant  of  thy  love,  we  speak. 

To  God  the  Father  be  the  praise, 

And  to  his  sole-begotten  Son, 
And  to  the  Blessed  Comforter, 

Both  now  and  while  all  time  shall  run. 

The  closing  scenes  in  the  life  of  the  great  bishop  were  such  as 
ecame  his  past.  His  funeral  address  over  his  brother  Satyrus  is 
like  that  of  Bernard  over  his  brother  Gerard,  or  like  that  of  Melanch- 
thon  above  the  dead  Luther.  His  eulogy  of  Theodosius,  whom  he 
survived  but  two  years,  is  conceived  in  a  strain  of  lofty  poetry, 
several  paragraphs  opening  with  the  repeated  phrase  Dilexi  virum 
I  loved  that  man  ! 


62  LATIN  HYMNS. 

I 

Ambrose  died  on  the  night  after  Good  Friday,  A.D.  397.     Pauli- 

nus,  his  biographer,  was  taking  notes  of  the  commentary  pro 
nounced  by  his  dying  master  on  the  43d  psalm.  It  was  a  scene 
like  that  at  the  deathbed  of  the  Venerable  Bede.  The  failing  bishop 
said  that  he  heard  angelic  voices  and  saw  the  smiling  face  of 
Christ ;  and  the  reverent  scribe  avows  that  the  face  which  looked 
on  his  own  was  bright,  and  that  around  that  aged  head  shone  until 
the  very  last  an  aureole  of  glory. 

Let  us  allow  much  charity  to  the  miracles  and  to  the  supersti 
tion  of  that  time,  but  let  us  also  remember  the  gravity  and  sweet 
ness  of  the  poet-bishop.  For  it  is  no  wonder  that  when  he  lay  in 
state  in  the  great  cathedral  with  quiet,  upturned  face,  little  chil 
dren  were  moved  by  his  gentle  dignity  of  countenance  and  men 
and  women,  affected  by  this  holy  presence,  put  away  their  sins, 
and  were  baptized  as  followers  of  the  dead  man's  faith. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PRUDENTIUS    THE    FIRST    CHRISTIAN    POET. 

AURELIUS  PRUDENTIUS  CLEMENS  has  received  rather  more  than 
his  due  share  of  renown.  His  works  have  been  edited  by  the 
most  careful  scholars.  There  is  a  beautiful  little  "  Elzevir"  upon 
which  Heinsius  expended  his  labor  and  which  was  printed  at 
Amsterdam  in  1667.  There  is  an  "  Aldine,"  4to,  Venice,  1501. 
But  the  most  elegant  is  that  of  Parma  (1788,  2  vols.,  4to),  edited 
by  Teoli ;  and  the  best  is  regarded  as  that  of  Faustinus  Arevalus, 
the  Spaniard,  Rome  1 788-89,  also  in  2  vols.  4to.  If  to  these  we  add 
the  most  accessible  collection  of  his  writings,  we  shall  find  it  in  the 
fifty-ninth  and  sixtieth  volumes  of  Migne's  Patrologia.  The  text 
of  these  various  editions  is  derived  from  what  is  called  the  Codex 
Puteanus,  now  in  the  Paris  Library — a  manuscript  dating  into  the 
fifth  or  sixth  century.  In  all,  there  have  been  nearly  a  dozen  of 
them,  of  which  that  of  R.  Langius  (1490,  4to)  is  the  true  princeps 
— the  very  earliest.  And  in  the  matter  of  editorship,  it  is  worthy 
of  note  that  Erasmus  did  not  disdain  to  expend  his  fine  classical 
skill  upon  the  hymns  for  Christmas  and  the  Epiphany. 

If  we  ask  Bentley  his  opinion  of  Prudentius  he  tells  us  that  he  is  I 
"  the  Horace  and  Virgil  of  the  Christians."     Milman  declares  that  / 
he  was  "  the  great  popular  author  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  and  that  \ 
"  no  work  but  the  Bible  appears  with  so  many  glosses  [commen-  | 
taries]  in  High  German."     "  T.  D.,"  away  back  in  1821,  when 
dear  old  Kit  North  was  editing  Blackvoood,  furnished  that  period 
ical  with  some  poetical  translations  and  remarked  that  Prudentius 
was  "  the  Latin  Dr.  Walts."     In  La  Rousse  he  obtains  the  credit 
of  being  "  the  first  Christian  poet."     Among  the  earlier  contem 
poraneous,  or  slightly  subsequent  references  his  name  is  preceded 
by  the  magic  letters,  "V.  C., "  standing  not,  as  some  have  thought, 
for  Vir  Consularis,  a  man  who  had  enjoyed  the  consulship,  but  for 
Vir  Clarissimus,  a  person  of  high  distinction.     It  is  reserved  for 
the  "  worthy  and  impartial  "  Du  Pin  to  formulate  a  judgment 


64  LATIX  HYMNS. 

more  in  accord  with  the  true  facts  of  the  case.  "  Prudentius," 
saith  Du  Pin,  "is  no  very  good  poet,  he  often  useth  expressions 
not  reconcilable  to  the  purity  of  Augustus's  Age." 

The  value  of  his  poetry  turns  largely  upon  its  theological  and 
historical  merits — both  of  which  are  considerable.  It  is  not  struc 
turally  perfect  by  any  means,  and  yet  it  has  furnished  several  very 
lovely  hymns  to  the  Church — graceful  and  delicate,  rather  than 
strong  or  inspiring. 

In  giving  him  his  name  it  is  safe  to  take  that  which  is  usually 
adopted  :  Aurelius  Prudentius^  surnamed  Clemens  or  the  Merciful. 
To  this  has  occasionally  been  prefixed  Quintus  or  Marcus,  but 
neither  has  sufficient  authority  in  its  favor.  He  was  a  Spaniard, 
and  the  main  facts  concerning  his  life  are  learned  from  his  own 
metrical  preface  to  his  poems.  Probably  few  questions  have  been 
more  closely  discussed  by  the  learned  than  this  of  his  birthplace. 
The  internal  evidence  is  heaped  up  on  either  side  until  it  is  seen 
that  Calahorra  [Calagurris]  is  probably  where  he  was  born,  while 
Saragossa  [Caesarea- Augusta]  was  "  his  city"  and  the  place  with 
which  he  was  most  identified. 

He  was  doubtless  of  good  family.  Those  industrious  and 
microscopic  editors  who  have  devoted  themselves  to  his  fame  have 
laid  great  stress  upon  the  names  Aurelius  and  Clemens.  The 
Aitrelii,  they  say,  were  distinguished  and  well-born  people.  The 
Clemenies  were  also  of  notable  memory.  And  there  were  two 
Prudentii  beside  himself  who  obtained  rather  more  than  ordinary 
distinction.  Indeed,  there  were  some  five  Prudentii,  early  and 
late,  and  one  of  them,  Prudentius  Amcenus,  tried,  indifferently 
badly,  to  climb  to  fame  by  an  abridgment  of  his  predecessor's 
history  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  In  this  he  was  so  suc 
cessful  that  the  original  is  now  lost,  the  condensation  alone  re- 
mains,  and  our  Prudentius  is  often  known  as  Prudentius  Major,  to 
differentiate  him  from  this  troublesome  Minor,  who  was  a  preceptor 
of  Walafrid  Strabo.  In  regard  to  two  other  hymns — the  Corde 
natus  and  the  Vidit  anguis — an  element  of  doubt  has  been  intro 
duced  by  this  same  person.  Faustinus  Arevalus  was  nothing  if 
not  a  hymn-tinker  (see  Christian  Remembrancer,  vol.  xlvi. ,  p.  125 
^!),  and  it  is  possible  that  these  by  such  careless  editorship  have 
been  incorporated  into  the  text  of  the  true  Prudentius  from  the 
pages  of  his  namesake  and  imitator.  The  hymn  Virgo  Dei  gent- 


I 


PRUDENTIUS    THE  FIRST  CHRISTIAN  POET.         65 

trix  (of  the  fifteenth  century)  is  ascribed  to  another  of  the  five 
Prudentii. 

This  sort  of  blunder  is  by  no  means  unusual.  We  have  an  in 
stance  in  point  with  reference  to  the  very  Consul  Salia  in  whose 
consulship  our  poet  tells  us  that  he  was  born.  A  similarity  be 
tween  Coss.  Salia  and  Massalia  misled  the  learned.  They  saw  in 
this  a  proof  that  Massilia  (Marseilles)  was  his  birthplace,  and 
Prudentius  was  at  once  claimed  for  France.  But  we  have  now 
unravelled  and  disentangled  the  greater  part  of  this  obscure  coil. 
Flavius  Philippus  and  Flavius  Salia  are  known  to  have  served  con 
jointly  in  the  year  348,  and  hence  the  industry  of  Aldus  Manutius 
and  Labbeus  (Labbee)  has  been  thrown  away  and  their  false  con 
jecture  has  been  abandoned. 

Prudentius  himself  tells  us  nothing  about  his  family,  beyond 
what  we  derive  by  inference.  The  deeper  that  we  plunge  into 
this  labyrinth  of  guesses  the  further  we  are  from  being  settled  in 
opinion.  The  exhaustive — and,  let  us  add,  the  exhausting — editor 
of  the  latest  edition  finally  calls  a  halt  in  the  middle  of  his  compli 
cated  Latin  sentences  and  avows  himself  utterly  at  a  loss  about  the 
truth.  There  is  then  some  comfort  left  to  us  in  cutting  and  un 
tying  these  knots  ;  for  whatever  view  we  may  advance  has  found 
distinguished  and  earnest  championship  already  !  On  the  whole, 
Teoli  appears  a  reliable  leader,  and  him  we  have  mostly  followed, 
as  later  authors,  such  as  Professors  Fiske  and  Teuffel,  seem  to 
have  done  before  us. 

Let  us  say,  then,  that  he  was  born  in  348,  Philippus  and  Salia 
being  consuls,  at  Calahorra,  which  lies  up  the  Ebro  and  to  the 
northwest  of  Saragossa.  To-day  Calahorra  is  a  small  place  of  a 
few  thousand  inhabitants,  but  it  furnishes  two  other  notable  facts 
to  history  in  addition  to  its  claim  to  be  the  birthplace  of  Pruden 
tius.  It  was  this  little  fighting  town  which  resisted  Afranius,  whom 
Pompey  sent  to  take  it  in  78  B.C.,  and  it  was  then  that  the  citizens 
ate  their  wives  and  children  sooner  than  surrender.  Besides  this 
somewhat  doubtful  glory  it  produced  Quinctilian  ;  while  Tudela, 
which  is  between  it  and  Saragossa,  gave  a  name  to  the  learned 
Jew,  Benjamin  of  Tudela,  whose  ideas  about  the  Tower  of  Babel 
have  become  as  classic  as  Prudentius' s  hymns  or  as  the  Maid  of 
Saragossa  herself.  It  may  be  added  that  paganism  was  very  early 
abandoned  in  all  this  region. 


66  LATIN  HYMNS. 

The  parents  of  Prudentius  gave  him  a  good  education.  He 
possessed,  says  Teoli,  ingenium  acre,  discrtum,  ferax — talent  that 
was  keen,  eloquent,  and  fruitful.  But  at  the  rhetoricians'  schools, 
which  he  attended  about  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  found  little  that 
was  commendable  in  manners  or  morals.  It  would  appear  that 
he  gave  the  rein  to  his  vices  and  that  his  life  was  not  very  rapidly 
turned  into  the  ways  of  Christianity. 

He  was  at  first  called  to  the  bar  and  made  judge  in  two  towns 
of  considerable  size,  which  may  perhaps  have  been  Toledo  and 
Cordova.  About  the  year  400  he  is  supposed  to  have  gone  to 
Rome  and  to  have  been  favorably  received  by  Honorius  the  Em 
peror,  who  then  promoted  him  to  some  sort  of  honorable  office  in 
his  native  country.  At  fifty -seven  years  of  age,  as  he  himself  tells 
us,  he  began  to  cultivate  literature.  He  had  retired  from  active 
life,  much  as  Chaucer  did  in  later  days.  From  this  period  onward 
he  lived  in  quiet ;  he  "  fled  fro'  the  presse  and  dwelt  in  soothfast- 
nesse,"  like  the  father  of  English  verse.  He  gave  himself  to 
sacred  things — to  hymns  in  honor  of  God  and  of  the  saints,  and 
to  poems  against  paganism  and  in  favor  of  Christian  duty. 

His  poems  have  Greek  titles.  First  comes  the  Psychomachia 
(the  Battles  of  the  Soul) — in  hexameter — treating  of  the  conflict 
in  a  Christian  soul  between  virtue  and  vice.  The  contrasts  are 
arranged  somewhat  like  those  of  Plutarch  between  the  Greek  and 
Roman  leaders,  only,  of  course,  the  antithesis  is  decidedly  against 
the  vices.  Here  stand  Faith  opposed  to  Idolatry,  and  Chastity 
facing  Impurity,  and  Patience  resisting  Anger,  and  Humility  con 
trasted  with  Pride,  and  Sobriety  pre-eminent  over  Excess,  and 
Liberality  vanquishing  Covetousness,  and  Concord  healing  the 
wounds  caused  by  Dissension.  There  are  nine  hundred  and 
fifteen  lines  in  the  poem. 

The  P erisiephanon  (Concerning  Crowns)  has  twelve  hymns  in 
honor  of  various  martyrs.  Mr.  Simcox  notes  that  these  are 
almost  idyllic  in  form,  and  that  there  is  much  made  of  the  white 
dove  which  flies  from  the  burning  pile  about  St.  Eulalia  and  of 
the  violets  which  the  girls  should  bring  to  the  tombs  of  the  virgin 
martyrs.  It  may  be  interesting  to  name  the  martyrs  thus  cele 
brated.  There  were  two  from  Calahorra  ;  then  Laurentius  and 
Eulalia  ;  eighteen  who  suffered  at  Saragossa  ;  Vincentius,  and 
.finally  Fructuosus  and  Quirinus,  bishops  both. 


PRUDENTIUS    THE  FIRST  CHRISTIAN  POET.        67 

Then  comes  a  poem  on  the  Baptistery  at  Calahorra  (translated 
in  Blackuoood,  vol.  ix.,  p.  192),  with  a  description  of  the  deaths  of 
Cassian,  Romanus,  Hippolytus,  Peter  and  Paul  the  apostles, 
Cyprian  and  Agnes.  These  poems,  it  should  be  said,  are  various 
in  metre  and  some  are  quite  long. 

The  Cathemerinon  (a  Book  of  Hours)  is  the  real  mine  whence 
the  most  of  the  hymns  which  were  composed  by  Prudentius  are 
taken.  In  this  we  have  hymns  for  cock-crowing  and  morning;' 
before  and  after  food  ;  at  the  lighting  of  the  lamp  ;  and  before  retir 
ing  to  rest.  With  these  are  joined  others  for  the  use  of  those  who 
are  fasting,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  the  fast ;  for  all  hours  and  at 
the  burial  of  the  dead  ;  the  work  ending  with  hymns  for  Christmas 
and  Epiphany. 

The  Apotheosis  consists  of  poems  relating  to  the  errors  of  all  the 
heretics  that  can  be  named — Patripassians,  Arians,  Sabellians, 
Manichaeans,  Docelae,  etc.  The  value  of  this  to  ecclesiastical  his 
tory  is  easily  perceived.  It  has  more  than  a  thousand  hexameters 
and  it  treats  additionally  of  the  nature  of  the  soul  and  of  sin  and 
of  the  resurrection. 

The  Hamartigenia  (the  Origin  of  Evil)  takes  up  original  sin  as 
against  Marcion  ;  and  the  Ditlochccon  (which  possibly  means 
Double  Food)  is  the  abridgment  of  Old  and  New  Testa 
ments.  This  last  is  a  sort  of  religious  picture  gallery  ranging 
from  Adam  to  the  Apocalypse  in  hexametrical  epigrams.  There 
is  reason  to  doubt  whether  it  be  what  Prudentius  originally  com 
posed.  If  he  followed  his  usual  vein  of  abundant  verse,  there  is 
no  question  but  that  these  half  a  hundred  epigrams  would  be 
more  popular  than  his  very  extensive  poetical  treatment  of  such 
subjects. 

It  is  left  us  to  mention  the  two  books  against  Symmachus,  the 
Roman  senator,  whom  Ambrose  so  earnestly  and  successfully  op 
posed.  Symmachus  had  purposed  to  restore  the  idols,  revive  the 
revenues  of  the  pagan  temples,  and  generally  to  cast  out  Christi 
anity  from  Rome.  The  poetry  of  Prudentius  is  again  valuable 
here,  for  it  plunges  into  the  origin  and  baseness  of  idolatry,  de 
scribing  the  conversion  of  Rome,  and  presenting  a  picture  of  the 
times  which  is  invaluable  to  the  historian.  It  is  from  the  pages 
of  Prudentius  that  we  learn  the  cruelty  of  the  purest  of  the  Roman 
women,  when 


68  LATIN  HYMNS. 

"  The  modest  vestal,  with  her  down-turned  thumb 
Urges  the  gladiator  to  his  stroke 
Lest  life  may  lurk  in  any  vital  place  !" 

One  line  in  our  author's  hymn  in  honor  of  St.  Lawrence  pre 
serves  an  historical  fact  which  was  not  appreciated  in  its  full 
significance  until  our  own  times.  He  says,  Aedemque  Laurenti 
tiiarn  Vesialis  intrat  Claudia — ' '  Claudia,  the  Vestal  Virgin,  enters 
Thy  House."  In  1883  there  was  discovered  in  the  Atrium  of 
the  Vestals  a  pedestal  of  a  statue  dedicated  to  one  of  the  heads  of 
the  order,  from  which  her  name  had  been  effaced  purposely. 
Nothing  of  it  was  left  except  the  initial  C.,  while  there  still 
remained  the  praise  of  "  her  chastity  and  her  profound  knowledge 
in  religious  matters"  (Ob  meritvm  Castitatis  Pvdicitiae  adq.  in 
Sacris  Religionibusqve  Doclrinae  Mirabilis],  The  statue  was 
erected  in  the  year  364,  and  the  order  was  abolished  by  the 
younger  Theodosius  in  394,  so  that  her  conversion  must  have 
taken  place  between  those  two  dates.  The  conversion  of  a  per 
son  filling  a  place  of  such  high  honor  in  pagan  eyes,  of  a  Vesialis 
maxima,  must  have  been  a  severe  blow  to  the  pagan  party,  which 
in  Rome  was  making  a  fierce  but  hopeless  fight  for  the  old  wor 
ship.  Yet  we  find  no  other  reference  to  it  in  literature,  unless 
the  letter  of  Symmachus  to  a  Vestal,  of  whom  he  had  heard  that 
she  meant  to  withdraw  from  her  order, 'was  addressed  to  Claudia. 
See  Professor  Lanciani's  Ancient  Rome  in  the  Light  of  Recent 
Discoveries,  pp.  170-72  (Boston,  1888). 

It  is  uncertain  in  what  year  or  in  what  part  of  Spain  Prudentius 
died.  Conjecture  varies  between  410  and  424  A.  D.  This  infini 
tude  of  filmy  particulars  causes  one  to  feel  as  if  he  were  walking 
through  spider-webs  of  a  morning  in  the  country.  This  hard, 
practical  nineteenth  century  only  experiences  a  sense  of  annoyance 
as  it  encounters  the  elaborate  nothings  of  that  strangely  laborious, 
all-gathering  scholarship  which  prevailed  in  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth.  To  create  any  intensity  of  interest  to-day  requires 
an  imagination  which  would  sacrifice  truth  to  attractiveness. 

But  certainly,  from  what  we  can  see  cf  the  man  in  his  works, 
we  can  have  no  hesitation  in  pronouncing  a  verdict  highly  favor 
able  both  to  his  poetry  and  his  piety.  As  governor  of  important 
towns  he  merited — or  he  would  scarcely  have  received — his  title 
of  "  the  Merciful."  As  a  close  observer  cf  his  time  and  a  student 


PRUDENTIUS    THE  FIRST  CHRISTIAN  POET.        69 

of  its  thought,  he  has  preserved  for  us  what  we  cannot  spare.  It 
is  he  who  in  \.\\Q  Jam  maesta  quiesce  querela  struck  the  first  notes 
which  were  to  vibrate  in  the  Dies  free.  It  is  he  again  who  in  the 
Ales  dieinuntius  anticipated  Henry  Vaughan  and  his 

"  Father  of  lights,  what  sunny  seed, 
What  glance  of  day  hast  thou  confined 
Into  this  bird  !" 

The  hymn  is  as  follows  : 

"  The  bird,  the  messenger  of  day, 

Cries  the  approaching  light ; 
And  thus  doth  Christ,  who  calleth  us 
Our  minds  to  life  excite. 

"  Bear  off,  he  cries,  these  beds  of  ease 

Where  lie  the  sick  and  dumb  ; 
And  let  the  chaste  and  pure  and  true 
Watch,  for  I  quickly  come. 

"  We  haste  to  Jesus  at  his  word, 

Earnest  to  pray  and  weep, 
Such  fervent  supplication  still 
Forbids  pure  hearts  to  sleep. 

"  Disturb  our  dream,  thou  holy  Christ, 

Break  off  the  night's  dark  chain  ; 
Forgive  us  all  our  sin  of  old. 
And  grant  us  light  again." 

And  so  it  is  still  he  who  casts  the  ray  of  his  fancy  upon  Bethle 
hem  and  upon  the  Transfigured  Christ.  Here  is  the  Quicumque 
Christum  quacritis  in  proof  of  his  real  genius  : 

"  O  ye  who  seek  your  Lord  to-day, 

Lift  up  your  eyes  on  high, 
And  view  him  there,  as  now  ye  may, 
Whose  brightness  cannot  die. 

"  How  gloriously  it  shineth  on 

As  though  it  knew  no  dearth 
Sublime  and  lofty,  never  done, 
Older  than  heaven  and  earth. 


70  LATIN  HYMNS. 

"  Thou  art  the  very  King  of  men. 

Thy  people  Israel's  King, 
Promised  unto  our  fathers  when 
From  Abraham  all  should  spring. 

"  To  thee  the  prophets  testified. 

In  thee  their  hearts  rejoice — 

Our  Father  bids  us  seek  thy  side 

To  hear  and  hcea  thy  voice." 

I  have  changed  the  two  last  stanzas  into  the  second  person  in 
stead  of  the  third.  Otherwise  the  rendering  is  a  faithful  and  literal 
version  of  the  hymn.  This,  then,  is  a  good  proof  of  the  genuine 
ring  of  true  metal  to  be  found  in  Prudentius. 

The  variety  and  flexibility  of  his  measures,  in  spite  of  archaic 
or  post-classical  words  and  phrases,  deserves  our  highest  praise. 
He  is  a  writer  of  the  "  Brazen  Age,"  but  he  has  not  sunk  far  from 
the  "  Silver,"  nor  exactly  into  the  falchion  sweep  of  the  more 
brutal  "  Iron"  time. 

Here  is  another  of  his  hymns,  the  Nox  et  tenebrae  et  nubila, 
which  has  obtained  a  place  in  the  Roman  Breviary  : 

"  Night,  clouds  and  darkness,  get  you  gone  ! 

Depart,  confusions  of  the  earth  ! 
Light  comes  ;  the  sky  so  dark  and  wan 
Brightens — it  is  the  Saviour's  birth  ! 

"  The  gloom  of  earth  is  cleft  in  twain 
Struck  by  that  sudden,  solar  ray  ; 
Color  and  life  return  again 

Before  the  shining  face  of  day. 

"  Thee,  Christ,  alone  we  seek  to  know, 

Thee,  pure  in  mind,  and  plain  in  speech  ; 
We  seek  thee  in  our  worship,  so 

That  thou  canst  through  our  senses  teach. 

"  How  many  are  the  dreams  of  dread 

Which  by  thy  light  are  swept  apart  ! 
Thou.  Saviour  of  the  sainted  dead, 
Shine  with  calm  lustre  in  the  heart  !" 

The  same  leading  idea  of  the  analogy  of  the  natural  light  with 
the  spiritual  runs  through  the  following  : 


PRUDENTIUS    THE  FIRST  CHRISTIAN  POET.         71 

"  Lo  the  golden  light  appears, 

Lo  the  darkness  pales  away 
Which  has  plunged  us  long  in  fears, 
Wandering  in  a  devious  way. 

"  Now  the  light  brings  peace  at  last, 

Holds  us  purely  as  its  own  ; 
All  our  doubts  aside  are  cast. 
And  we  speak  with  holy  tone. 

"  So  may  all  the  day  run  on 

Free  from  sin  of  hand  or  tongue, 
And  our  very  glances  shun 

Every  form  and  shape  of  wrong. 

"  High  above  us  One  is  set 

All  our  days  to  know  and  mark, 
And  our  acts  he  watches  yet 
From  the  dawning  to  the  dark." 

Prudentius  undoubtedly  exhibits  the  early  traces  of  observances 
which  are  peculiar  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  In  one  of  his 
hymns  (the  Cultor  Dei  memento]  he  advises  that  the  sign  of  the 
cross  be  made  upon  the  forehead  and  above  the  heart  : 

*'  Frontem  locumque  cordis 
Crucis  figura  signet." 

But  we  have  not  the  space,  nor  is  this  the  proper  occasion,  to 
follow  him  through  those  matters  which  belong  to  the  church  his 
torian  more  than  to  the  hymnologist.  We  must  leave  him  to  end 
his  days  in  undisturbed  quiet,  a  good  deal  after  the  manner  of 
Chaucer,  as  indeed  we  have  already  hinted.  He  is  said  to  have 
died  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  year  405  in  Spain.  Our  informa 
tion  is  largely  conjectural  and  affords  us  no  certainty  about  his 
closing  years. 

That  a  poet  who  still  dwelt  amid  the  sculptured  coldness  of 
the  pagan  past  should  have  written  such  hymns,  is  a  proof  of  what 
Christianity  was  then  achieving.  She  had  banished  from  the  chilly 
apartments  of  literature  the  ancient  focus  with  its  feeble  charcoal 
and  its  mephitic  smoke.  Instead  of  this  she  had  created  the 
cheerful  hearth,  on  which  a  pure  fire  of  devotion  was  kindled  and 
whose  ascending  flame  swept  off  the  immoral  vapors  of  the  time. 
Prudentius,  in  a  word,  made  scholarship  and  religion  companions 


72  LATIN  HYMNS. 

instead  of  enemies  ;  and  brightened  classic  prosody  by  the  pres 
ence  of  a  living  faith. 

To  Prudentius  also  more  hymns  have  been  ascribed  than  he 
ever  wrote,  but  after  these  have  been  weeded  out,  there  are  left : 

Ales  diet  nuntius, 
Nox  el  tenebrae  et  nubtla, 
Sol  ecce  surgit  igneus, 
Intende  noslris  sensibus, 
O  crucifer  bone,  lucisator, 
Paslis  visceribus,  ciboque  sumpto, 
Inventor  ruiili  dux  bone  luminis, 
Ades  paler  supreme, 
Cultor  Dei  memento, 
O  Nazarene  lux  Bethlem  verbum  Patris, 
In  Ninivitas  se  coactus  percito, 
Christe  servorum  regimen  iuorum, 
Da  puer  plectrum, 
Corde  natus  ex  parentis, 
Deus  ignee  fons  animarum, 
Jam  moes/a  quiesce  querela, 
Quid  est  quod  arctum  circulum, 
Quicumque  Christum  quaeritis, 
O  sola  magnarum  urfa'um, 
Audit  tyrannus  anxius, 
Salveie  flores  mariyrum, 
Qui  ter  qualernus  denique, 
Felix  terra  quae  Fructuoso  vesliris, 
Lux  ecce  surgit  aurea, 
En  martyris  Laurentii, 
Beaie  martyr  prospera, 
Noctis  terrae  primordia, 
Obsidionis  obvias, 
Hymnum  Mariae  Virginis, 
Germine  nobilis  Eulalia, 
Scripta  sunt  coelo  duorum, 
Innumeros  cineres  sanctorum. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

ENNODIUS,    BISHOP    OF    PAVIA. 

RAMBACH  says,  in  his  Anthology,  that  none  of  the  hymns  of 
Ennodius  have  been  adopted  by  the  Church.  "Nor  have  I," 
adds  Daniel,  "  found  in  any  breviary  a  verse  of  Ennodius.  Yet," 
he  continues,  "  since  there  are  many  of  them  in  the  collection  of 
Thomasius,  which  have  been  taken  from  the  Mozarabic  Breviary, 
it  seems  to  me  certain  that  in  some  countries  they  were  formerly 
employed  by  the  Church."  Some  corruption  has  also  taken 
place  in  the  text.  And,  in  short,  these  hymns  have  never  ap 
peared  either  devout  Or  original  enough  to  secure  the  suffrages 
of  the  faithful. 

The  reason  for  their  emptiness  is  not  far  to  seek.  Their  author 
was  a  man  of  great  celebrity  but  of  little  piety.  His  reputation, 
too,  is  that  of  an  ardent  ecclesiast,  who  managed  to  climb  the 
heights  of  saintship  by  working  in  the  interest  of  the  Roman  pon 
tiff.  He  labored  to  maintain  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope — upon 
whom,  it  is  said,  on  good  authority,  that  he  was  the  first  to  bestow 
the  world-wide  appellation  of  Papa  (Pope) — and  to  effect  the 
union  under  this  one  religious  head  of  both  Greek  and  Roman 
churches.  To  this  single  cause,  with  its  double  aspect,  Ennodius 
gave  his  talents  and  his  zeal.  He  was  so  far  successful  that  he 
gained  honor  and  position  for  himself,  however  he  was  prospered 
in  his  other  plans. 

He  was  a  person  of  sufficient  prominence  for  Italy  and  Gaul  to 
contest  the  honor  of  his  birth.  It  would  appear,  however,  that 
Gaul  has  the  best  title  to  whatever  credit  his  nationality  may  give. 
The  works  on  hymnology  do  not  mention  him,  and  the  only 
notices  of  his  life  and  writings  are  to  be  found  in  out  of-the-way 
corners  of  books  on  Latin  literature  and  in  the  controversial  pages 
of  Church  historians.  Those  who  attack  and  those  who  defend 
the  papal  claims,  are  in  the  habit  of  mentioning  the  two  embassies 
of  Ennodius  as  notable  points  in  their  argument ;  but  the  man  is 


74  LATIN  HYMNS. 

lost  from  sight  in  the  paramount  importance  of  his  mission.  It 
cannot  be  so  with  us,  to  whom  his  personal  character  is  the  topic 
of  interest,  and  who  care  only  for  his  circumstances  as  these 
develop  him  to  us  upon  his  hymnologic  side. 

Ennodius  has  himself  informed  us  that  he  regarded  Aries  as  his 
native  place.  We  also  know  that  he  was  born  in  473,  because  he 
died  in  521  at  the  age  of  forty-eight.  Kis  family  was  highly  re 
spectable,  if,  indeed,  it  was  not  actually  illustrious.  Our  poet  always 
shows  a  familiarity  with  the  affairs  of  good  society  ;  and  in  those 
times  good  society  had  only  one  meaning.  It  was  a  society  which 
educated  its  scions  in  the  polite  learning  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and 
which  made  much  of  the  ability  to  speak  and  write  the  Latin 
tongue.  It  is  scarcely  to  be  questioned  that  this  was  the  theory 
on  which  the  early  education  of  Ennodius  proceeded.  He  was 
sent  to  Milan  in  order  to  become  versed  in  what  was  called 
humane  learning.  If  he  is  himself  to  be  believed  he  acquired 
both  bad  and  good  in  this  school.  He  laments  with  a  mock 
humility  (for  so  it  would  appear  by  his  later  literary  derelictions) 
that  he  had  obtained  a  great  deal  of  wicked  and  ungodly  informa 
tion  ;  and  really  no  one  can  read  some  of  his  nasty  epigrams  and 
doubt  his  assertion.  For,  whether  it  was  permissible  to  a  saint 
or  not,  it  is  a  fact,  that  the  editors  of  his  works  have  not  scrupled 
to  print  some  exceedingly  profane  and  improper  pieces  which  are 
undoubtedly  the  product  of  his  pen. 

His  aunt,  who  was  bearing  the  cost  of  this  admirable  instruction, 
died  in  489 — that  is,  when  he  was  sixteen — and  he  was  left  without 
means  to  proceed  with  his  studies.  He  avows  that  he  had  come 
to  detest  the  very  name  of  liberal  education,  and  this,  under  the 
circumstances,  cannot  well  be  regarded  as  anything  very  surpris 
ing.  We  soon  after  find  him  married  to  a  lady  who  is  described 
as  of  a  "  most  noble"  and  therefore  highly  appropriate  family. 
She  was,  moreover,  ' '  very  rich' '  — another  satisfactory  point.  With 
this  wealthy  and  fashionable  wife,  Ennodius  rapidly  obtained  a 
view  of  earth,  and  what  earth  can  give,  which  was  so  far  limited  in 
that  the  money  did  not  equal  the  desires  of  the  married  pair.  It 
ran  low  and  the  bitterness  of  financial  perplexities  mingled  with 
the  cup  of  their  happiness.  Judging  the  husband  by  his  epigrams 
he  was  pretty  fairly  exhausted  by  the  speed  of  their  career,  and 
was  quite  ready  to  shake  off  the  encumbrance  of  a  family  and  de- 


ENNODIUS,    BISHOP   OF  PA  VIA.  75 

vote  himself  to  the  lofty  purpose  of  being  supported  by  somebody 
else.  An  unprejudiced  mind  fails  to  see  in  this  any  particular 
"  admonition"  or  "  example"  to  his  age.  It  is  merely  the  selfish 
escape  of  a  worldly  but  embarrassed  man.  Divorces  were  not 
available  then  with  the  ease  with  which  a  less  scrupulous  and 
more  intellectual  generation  can  now  procure  them.  The  proper, 
and,  indeed,  the  meritorious  way,  was  to  slip  into  a  cloister  and 
become  one  of  that  vast  army  which  was  soon  to  be  the  tower  of 
strength  of  the  Pope.  He  himself  ascribes  this  step  to  a  serious 
illness  in  which  he  had  been  healed  through  the  miraculous  inter 
position  of  St.  Victor,  after  the  doctors  had  given  up  his  case. 

Ennodius  now  attached  himself  to  the  person  and  fortunes  of 
Epiphanius,  the  Bishop  of  Pavia.  He  was  placed  under  the  tute 
lage  of  one  Servilio,  who  taught  him  theology  according  to  the 
methods  and  opinions  then  in  vogue.  His  wife  meanwhile  had 
made  the  best  of  it  after  the  same  fashion,  and  had  gone  into  a 
convent,  where  all  trace  of  her  vanishes  in  that  monotone  of  gray 
walls,  chanted  services,  and  ceaseless  devotion.  At  least  no  indi 
viduality  resembling  her  ever  henceforth  emerges  from  that  uni 
form  procession  which  passes  by  us,  in  this  and  later  centuries, 
as  the  long  line  of  hooded  figures  moves  athwart  Dante  and 
Virgil  in  the  "Purgatorio." 

But  the  career  of  Ennodius  now  begins.  He  is  the  bishop's 
chosen  companion,  the  associate  of  his  expedition  to  Biian9on  in 
Burgundy  in  behalf  of  certain  prisoners  ;  for  in  those  days  the 
spiritual  hand  was  often  laid  with  a  mighty  grip  on  the  secular 
arm.  The  poet  was  by  this  time  a  deacon,  having  been  ordained 
thereto  by  his  kind  friend  the  bishop.  And  the  duties  of  this 
private  secretaryship  were  so  pleasant  that  it  is  evident  no  one 
would  willingly  surrender  them  for  a  cold  cell  and  matins  early  in 
the  morning.  The  glimpses  which  we  get  of  Ennodius  do  not 
encourage  us  to  esteem  him  an  ascetic,  or  to  think  him  lacking  in 
zeal  for  personal  comfort.  He  was  the  literary  adjunct  of  a  re 
markably  amiable  prelate,  with  whom  he  was  on  terms  of  intimacy 
which  made  his  own  life  no  care  at  all,  and  his  meat  and  drink  no 
problem  whatever  !  From  494,  then,  he  continued  still  to  occupy 
this  post  of  trust  and  ease.  We  are  told  that  the  bishop  persuaded 
him  to  it,  but  there  can  be  no  reasonable  objection  to  our  believ 
ing  that  the  bishop  had  no  unwilling  listener. 


76  LA  TIN  HYMNS. 

The  literary  capacity  of  Ehnodius  next  attracts  attention.  His 
patron  (who  must  not  be  confused  with  the  great  Bishop  of  Sal- 
amis,  the  author  of  the  famous  Heresies,  who  belongs  to  the  pre 
vious  century)  died  before  510.  Maximus  III.  had  succeeded 
Epiphanius,  and  after  his  death  our  Ennodius,  in  510  or  511,  was 
selected  for  the  vacant  diocese.  The  name  of  this  episcopate  was 
Ticinum,  or,  as  we  now  style  it,  Pavia.  It  is  plain  that  the  be 
stowal  of  this  dignity  was  hastened  by  the  fact  that  our  scholar 
while  still  a  deacon  had  defended  Pope  Symmachus  before  the 
Roman  synod  called  "  Palmare,"  and  so  effectually  that  the  dis 
course  was  entered  on  the  acts  of  the  council,  where  it  still  appears. 
The  Pope  had  been  charged  with  crimes,  and  a  synod  convoked  by 
the  heretical  Theodoric  was  to  decide  the  case.  The  date  was 
October,  501.  The  place  was  a  portico  of  the  church  of  St.  Peter 
at  Rome  to  which  this  name  of  Palmare  was  usually  given.  And 
the  speech  is  historic  inasmuch  as  it  is  the  earliest  recorded  instance 
of  that  assertion  of  supremacy  on  the  part  of  the  Roman  pontiff 
which  frees  him  from  any  responsibility  to  earthly  rulers.  Enno 
dius  thus  became  the  advocate  of  this  dogma,  and  upon  the  broad 
wings  of  papal  favor  he  soared  to  the  high  station  which  his  patron 
Epiphanius  had  quitted. 

This  burst  of  declamatory  eloquence  did  not  come  without  pre 
paratory  training.  Ennodius  had  been  exercised  in  the  art  of 
declamation  in  his  youthful  days  and,  as  a  deacon,  he  was  able  to 
utilize  his  knowledge.  In  510  or  511,  not  long  after  his  elevation 
to  the  mitre,  he  wrote  the  life  of  his  friend  and  predecessor.  And 
this  he  followed  with  divers  performances  of  a  literary  character 
which  were  generously  applauded.  He  became  a  sort  of  hero  in 
the  world  of  letters,  and  whatever  he  was  pleased  to  compose  was 
heartily  commended. 

In  515  it  was  natural  that  such  an  advocate  of  the  absolute 
domination  of  the  Roman  pontiff  should  be  selected  to  help  in  the 
effort  to  reunite  the  Eastern  Church  to  the  Western.  The  am 
bassadors  were  himself,  the  Bishop  of  Pavia ;  Fortunatus,  Bishop 
of  Catania  ;  Venantius,  a  presbyter ;  Vitalis,  a  deacon,  and 
Hilarius,  a  notary  and  scribe.  These  names  themselves  reveal  a 
not  infrequent  source  of  confusion  to  students  of  that  distressingly 
barren  period,  when  it  was  regarded  as  a  very  pleasant  compliment 
to  call  the  son  of  a  nobody  by  the  distinguished  appellation  of 


ENNODIUS,    BISHOP   OF  PA  VI A.  77 

some  great  person  in  the  Church.  In  this  manner  Hilary  and 
Fortunatus  suffered  then,  and  modern  scholars  have  been  often 
vexed  and  perplexed  since,  especially  when  dates  come  near 
together.  It  hardly  needs  to  be  added  that  these  wearers  of  illus 
trious  names  have  only  that  meed  of  renown,  such  as  it  is. 

The  purpose  of  the  embassy  was  to  obtain  from  the  Byzantine 
Emperor  Anastasius,  at  that  time  a  man  of  great  age,  the  recog 
nition  of  Hormisdas,  the  ruling  Pope,  as  the  supreme  religious 
head  of  both  empires.  It  was  a  delicate  negotiation,  and  it  de 
manded  a  perfectly  incorruptible  adherence  to  the  interests  of 
Rome.  In  this  respect  Ennodius  stood  pre-eminent  as  what 
Mosheim  styles  an  "  infatuated  adulator  of  the  Roman  pontiff/' 
and  as  a  master  of  the  style  then  required  in  a  diplomat.  He  had 
(in  503)  eulogized  Pope  Symmachus,  calling  him  "  one  who 
judged  in  the  place  of  God  "  (vice  Dei  judicare)  and  again  (in 
507)  he  had  published  a  panegyric  on  Theodoric,  the  Gothic  King 
of  Italy,  which  had  all  the  absurd  flattery  of  that  species  of  com 
position.  To  crown  these  he  was  the  obedient  occupant  of  the 
see  of  Pavia.  He  was  therefore  just  the  man  to  do  the  work  of 
the  relentless  and  uncompromising  Pope. 

Caelius  Hormisdas  was  a  man  who  never  yielded,  never  forgot, 
and  never  relaxed  a  purpose.  Such  men,  backed  by  a  sufficient 
power,  wring  from  a  reluctant  world  about  all  that  they  have  deter 
mined  to  secure.  But  to  the  obstinate  will  of  the  Pope  was  op 
posed  the  no  less  obstinate  will  of  the  old  Emperor — now  fully 
eighty-five  years  of  age — and  quite  as  grim  in  his  methods  as  any 
Hormisdas.  It  was  to  be  a  battle  of  giants  and  the  intermediates 
might  look  for  little  favor.  The  opportunity  for  the  negotiation 
itself  happened  to  occur  in  an  unusual  way.  Vitalianus,  com 
mander  of  the  Imperial  Byzantine  cavalry,  had  taken  arms  against 
the  Emperor  ;  had  defeated  and  put  to  death  Cyril,  the  opposing 
general,  and  had  then  marched  to  the  very  gates  of  Constantinople. 
The  victor  was  proposing  to  color  his  rebellion  by  a  pleasant  pre 
text  of  helping  the  orthodox  ;  and  the  old  Emperor,  therefore, 
turned  the  edge  of  his  own  humiliation  by  agreeing  to  a  corre 
spondence  with  the  Pope. 

Anastasius  began  to  carry  out  his  share  of  this  unpleasant  busi 
ness  by  .appointing  a  council  to  meet  at  Heraclea,  in  Thrace,  on 
July  1 5th,  515,  and  asking  for  commissioners  to  be  sent  from 


78  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Rome.  The  venerable  fox  knew  perfectly  well  that  he  had  not 
allowed  time  enough  for  the  proper  instruction  ol  these  delegates, 
nor  for  them  to  make  the  long  journey.  But  Pope  Hormisdas 
appointed  them,  and  they  proceeded  to  the  imperial  court,  utterly 
indifferent  as  to  the  time  of  the  council,  and  without  any  apologies 
for  their  delay  which  history  deigns  to  record.  They  went,  in 
deed,  in  a  very  haughty  spirit,  and  did  not  even  commence  their 
expedition  before  August  1 2th. 

When  they  reached  the  Emperor  they  asked,  or  rather  de 
manded,  that  he  should  assent  to  the  letter  of  Pope  Leo,  who  was 
the  first  to  claim  this  submission  from  the  East.  They  insisted, 
furthermore,  that  this  heterodox  monarch  should  accept  the  defini 
tions  of  the  famous  Council  of  Chalcedon,  A.D.  451,  which  relate 
to  the  nature  and  personality  of  Christ.  The  schism  between  East 
and  West  had  now  lasted  for  thirty-one  years,  and  a  certain 
Acacius,  Bishop  of  Constantinople,  who  had  been  a  most  persist 
ent  opponent  of  the  demands  of  Leo  the  Great,  was  still  a  thorn 
in  the  Roman  pontiff's  side. 

But  Anastasius  received  the  ambassadors  with  just  as  proud  a 
spirit  as  they  had  shown  to  him.  He  would  neither  yield  to  Leo 
nor  to  Chalcedon,  nor  would  he  anathematize  Acacius.  Ennodius 
and  his  companions  returned  to  Rome  without  accomplishing  their 
mission,  and  the  Emperor  sent  letters  after  them  by  Theopompus 
and  Severianus,  principal  men  of  his  court.  When  these  reached 
Rome  they  were  badly  received  by  Hormisdas,  and  found  that 
nothing  would  answer  except  the  excommunication  of  Acacius. 
With  this  ultimatum  they  got  back,  somewhat  crestfallen  ;  and  poor 
Acacius  (who  was  not  half  so  bad  as  his  papal  foe)  was  once  more 
threatened  with  banishment  to  eternal  fires. 

Anastasius,  however,  was  not  at  all  inclined  to  hand  over  his 
bishop  to  the  mercies  of  Hormisdas.  He  stoutly  refused  and  con 
tinued  to  refuse  throughout  the  ensuing  correspondence.  About 
two  hundred  monks  and  archimandrites  (heads  of  monasteries) 
sent  from  Syria  a  letter  to  the  Pope  which  was  directed  against  the 
patriarch  of  Antioch,  Severus  by  name,  and  which  gave  in  their 
own  allegiance  to  the  Western  Church.  Nevertheless,  the  Emperor 
still  maintained  the  cause  of  Acacius,  although  he  must  have  seen 
that  the  Pope  was  as  determined  as  ever  to  carry  his  point  and 
that  there  was  now  a  great  deal  which  was  working  in  favor  of  the 


EN  NODI  US,    BISHOP   OF  PA  VI A.  79 

papal  plans.  When  the  Syrians  addressed  their  letter  to  the 
41  Most  holy  and  blessed  Hormisdas,  Patriarch  of  the  whole  earth, 
holding  the  see  of  Peter  the  prince  of  the  apostles,"  it  spoke  vol 
umes  for  what  the  Pope  had  been  able  to  effect  by  his  agents  and 
representations  in  the  East.  But  the  Emperor  would  not  yield 
the  point  and  act  upon  the  conciliatory  policy  of  the  heretical 
Theodoric  of  Italy,  which  was  that  they  might  settle  religious 
matters  in  their  own  fashion,  provided  they  honored  absolutely  his 
temporal  sway. 

A  second  embassy  was  set  on  foot  consisting  of  Ennodius  and 
Peregrin  us,  Bishop  of  Misenum.  By  these  ambassadors  letters 
were  sent  renewing  the  old  conditions  and  avowing  that  nothing 
would  be  satisfactory  short  of  the  complete  banishment  of  that 
pestilent  wretch  Acacius.  This  was  too  much  for  the  Emperor  to 
bear.  He  angrily  dismissed  the  legates,  shipping  them  off  in  an 
old  and  leaky  vessel,  and  giving  a  special  order  to  Demetrius  and 
Heliodorus  to  see  that  they  did  not  set  foot  in  his  dominions  after 
they  had  once  sailed  for  home.  Behind  the  flying  ambassadors 
followed  a  document  which  expressed  the  royal  mind  with  force 
and  vigor.  After  comparing  the  conduct  of  the  Pope  very  un 
favorably  with  that  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Emperor  proceeds  to  say  : 
"  We  shall  give  you  no  further  trouble,  it  being  in  vain  for  us  to 
pray  or  entreat  you,  since  you  are  obstinately  determined  not  to 
hearken  to  our  prayers  and  entreaties.  We  can  bear  to  be  de 
spised  and  affronted,  but  we  will  not  be  commanded. " 

This  was  dated  July  nth,  517,  and  reveals  an  unexpected  dig 
nity  in  the  old  Emperor,  and  it  makes  us  glad  to  record  that,  while 
he  lived,  the  Bishop  of  Constantinople  was  at  least  preserved  in  a 
salvable  state. 

But  when  Anastasius  died,  then  Hormisdas  began  again  upon 
Justin,  his  successor,  and  never  stopped  until  Acacius  was  struck 
from  the  roll  of  bishops  and  until  the  East  acknowledged  the  spir 
itual  supremacy  of  the  West.  That  the  victory  was  of  no  long 
continuance  or  of  any  enormous  value,  does  not  prevent  us  from 
noticing  that  it  gave  to  Magnus  Felix  Ennodius  his  permanent 
place  in  the  Roman  calendar,  and  did  everything  for  his  literary 
and  ecclesiastical  comfort.  He  was  well  rewarded  for  his  devotion 
to  the  cause. 

Anastasius  reigned  491-518,    and   Hormisdas,  who  had  once 


So  LATIN  HYMNS. 

been  married  and  had  a  son,  who  also  became  Pope,  ruled  in  his 
sphere  from  514  to  523.  Thus  he  had  nearly  five  years  wherein 
to  rejoice  over  his  obstinate  dead  enemy.  And  Ennodius  possessed 
his  soul  in  peace  and  turned  his  attention  once  more  to  polite 
literature. 

Of  the  writings  which  he  has  left  to  us,  the  principal  are  the  life 
of  Epiphanius  ;  another  of  Antonius  of  Pannonia,  a  hermit  at 
Lake  Como  and  then  a  monk  at  Lerins  ;  together  with  a  Euchar- 
isticum  de  Vita  sua  and  the  apology  and  panegyric  mentioned 
above.  Add  to  these  nine  books  of  letters,  "  weighed  down  with 
emptiness,"  and  various  itineraries,  declamations,  and  poetical 
pieces,  and  you  have  all  he  did.  The  letters  are  most  unsatisfac 
tory  when  we  remember  that  he  was  the  friend,  and  perhaps  the 
relative,  of  men  like  Boeihius,  Faustus,  Avienus,  Cassar  of  Aries, 
Aurelian,  and  of  bishops  and  other  prelates  without  number, 
and  lived  in  Italy  under  the  great  Theodoric.  He  is  utterly  lack 
ing  in  contemporary  portraits,  and  his  accounts  of  his  three  jour 
neys  give  us  nothing  valuable.  All  is  stilted,  unnatural,  and  dull. 
He  was  not  much  of  a  traveller  at  best.  Atrip  into  Burgundy, 
another  across  the  Po  to  see  his  sister,  and  one  from  Rome  by  sea, 
make  up  the  list  of  which  he  kept  any  trace  in  his  writings.  He 
is  in  no  haste  to  detail  the  sayings  and  doings  at  Constantinople  ! 
But  it  should  be  said  that  these  performances  with  the  pen  were 
previous  to  his  elevation  to  the  mitre.  Afterward  he  doubtless 
composed  only  hymns  and  epigrams — the  hymns  being  decent  and 
the  epigrams  very  much  the  reverse.  The  German  scholar  Teuffel 
looks  upon  his  productions  as  an  "  important  source  of  history" 
for  some  enigmatic  reason  of  his  own,  but  Simcox  very  justly 
scouts  them  ;  and  the  Romanist  Berington  asserts  that  he  rises 
"  with  weariness"  from  their  perusal.  I  must  personally  declare 
that  they  exhibit  neither  skill,  taste,  nor  information.  They  are 
jejune  and  empty  to  a  marvellous  degree  ;  and  for  complication 
of  sentences  and  unclasstcal  phraseology,  they  are  equal  to  the 
stupidest  books  of  a  later  day.  And  nothing  worse  than  this  can 
be  said  by  any  critic. 

The  Eucharisticum  is  an  insincere  sort  of  thanksgiving  for  his 
restoration  to  health,  and  very  far  behind  the  style  of  Augustine 
which  it  copies.  It  gives  us  a  few  particulars  of  his  personal  his 
tory,  but  it  is  prosaic  and  Pharisaic,  and  full  of  a  mock  humble 


EN  NODI  US,    BISHOP   OF  PA  VIA.  81 

glorification  of  the  blessed  Victor  the  Martyr,  by  whose  intercession 
he  is  now  convalescent. 

The  hymns  are  a  trifle  more  hopeful,  and  really  merit  our  notice. 
They  are  by  no  means  the  ' '  dozen  tame  hymns' '  of  which  Simcos 
speaks  so  contemptuously.  There  are  sixteen  of  them  and  three 
are  quite  good.  Here,  for  instance,  is  the  Christe  lumen  per  - 

pcluum  : 

'  O  Christ,  the  eternal  light 

Of  every  sun  and  sphere, 
Illumine  thou  our  mortal  night 
And  keep  our  spirits  clear. 

"  Let  nothing  evil  smite, 
Nor  enemy  invade  ; 
And  let  us  stainless  be,  and  white. 
By  nothing  base  betrayed. 

"  Guard  thou  the  hearts  of  all, 
But  chiefly  of  thine  own  ; 
And  hold  us,  that  we  may  not  fall, 
Through  thy  great  might  alone. 

"  That  so  our  souls  may  sing. 

When  favoring  light  they  see  ; 
And  every  vow  and  tribute  bring 
To  God  in  Trinity." 

The  Christe  precamur  is  quite  as  good  : 

"  To  thee  O  Christ  we  ever  pray 

And  blend  our  prayer  with  tears  ; 
Thou  pure  and  holy  One,  alway 
Protect  our  night  of  years  ! 

"  Our  hearts  shall  be  at  rest  in  thee  ; 

In  sleep  they  dream  thy  praise, 
And  to  thy  glory,  faithfully, 
They  hail  the  coming  days. 

' '  Give  us  a  life  that  shall  not  fail  ; 

Refresh  our  spirits  then  ; 
Let  blackest  night  before  thee  pale, 
And  bring  thy  light  to  men  ! 

"  Our  vows  in  song  we  pay  thee  still, 

And,  at  the  evening  hour, 
May  all  that  we  have  purposed  ill 
Be  right  through  sovereign  power  !" 


82  LATIN  HYMNS. 

There  is  yet  one  more  hymn  which  seems  worthy  of  a  place  in 
our  regard.  It  is  the  Christe  salvator  omnium  : 

"  O  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  all, 

Thou  Lord  of  the  heavens  above  ; 
We  ask  thy  glorious  aid 

Before  the  day  shall  remove. 

"  The  sun  is  hastening  down  ; 

His  light  is  sunk  in  the  west ; 
He  hideth  the  world  in  gloom, 
According  to  God's  behest. 

"  Do  thou,  most  excellent  Lord, 

As  we  thy  followers  pray, 
To  us,  all  weary  with  toil, 
Grant  quiet  night  on  our  way. 

"  That  day,  from  our  darkening  hearts, 

May  never  withdraw  her  light ; 
But,  safe  in  thy  guardian  grace, 
Thy  love  illumine  our  night." 

The  poetical  and  spiritual  range  of  these  lyrics  is  not  extensive, 
of  course,  but  it  is  a  vast  improvement  on  those  "  uncleanly  imita 
tions  of  Martial,"  or  such  involved  and  heartless  tricks  of  verse  as 
he  sometimes  essays.  But  he  became  a  saint,  and  that  must  suffice  ! 
His  life  has  been  written  by  Sirmond  ;  and  his  times  and  life 
together  have  occupied  the  attention  of  Fertig  (Passau,  1855). 
He  died  at  Padua,  as  we  are  credibly  informed,  on  July  iyth 
(XVI.  Kal.  Aug.),  521,  and  this  date  is  assigned  to  him  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  calendar  of  saints.  His  epitaph,  according  to 
Despont,  who  wrote  in  1677,  was  still  to  be  found  in  the  church 
of  St.  Michael,  and  testimonies  to  his  services  are  among  the  acts 
of  the  Fifth  Synod  of  Rome,  and  are  included  in  the  public  papers 
of  Hormisdas. 

When  you  break  open  the  important  historical  facts  with  which 
he  was  identified,  then  like  the  toad  from  the  stone,  comes  forth 
Ennodius.  And  like  that  toad,  though  "  ugly  and  venomous," 
he  yet  "  wears  a  precious  jewel  in  his  head." 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

C2ELIUS   SEDULIUS    AND    HIS    ALPHABET    HYMN. 

LATIN  hymnology  gives  a  distinguished  place  to  a  hymn  of 
twenty-three  stanzas,  each  stanza  containing  four  lines  and  be 
ginning  with  a  letter  of  the  alphabet  in  regular  order.  Thus  from 
A  to  Z  all  the  letters  appear  except  J,  U,  and  W.  Caterva  is 
spelled  Katerva,  to  answer  for  K.  Y  is  represented  by  Ymnis, 
which  is  another  form  of  Hymnis.  And  at  last  Zelum  concludes 
the  list.  The  author  struggles  with  a  difficulty  when  he  takes 
Xeromyrrham  to  answer  for  X,  but  otherwise  the  ideas  and  versifi 
cation  are  so  excellent  as  to  have  made  the  hymn  classic.  The 
Roman  Breviary  uses  two  selections  from  it.  One  commences  A 
solis  ortus  cardine,  ad  usque,  and  the  other,  Hostis  Herodes  impie, 
The  general  subject  is  the  Nativity,  but  the  poem  soon  proceeds  to 
the  Miracles  of  our  Lord,,  and  closes  with  an  ascription  of  praise 
for  His  Resurrection. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  authorship.  Old  manuscript 
codices,  and  the  tradition  of  the  Church,  assign  it  definitely  to 
Caelius  Sedulius — sometimes  called  Caius  Caelius  Sedulius — who 
flourished  near  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century.  But  his  personal 
history  is  much  harder  to  come  at,  and  the  few  facts  which  we 
possess  only  stimulate  our  curiosity  to  know  more.  And  besides, 
he  is  so  entangled  with  another  Sedulius — also  a  poet,  also  a  cele 
brated  author,  also  a  Scot,  and  also  involved  in  much  obscurity — 
that  nearly  every  notice  of  his  name  contains  more  or  less  of  error. 
This  second  Sedulius,  however,  wrote  no  hymn  which  has  survived, 
and  therefore  needs  no  further  mention.  He  is  always  named 
Sedulius  Scotus,  to  distinguish  him  from  our  Sedulius,  who  is 
invariably  called  Ccelius  Sedulius.  He  flourished  somewhere 
between  721  and  818,  while  the  best  ascertained  date  of  his  pre 
decessor's  life  appears  to  be  434. 

Our  sources  of  information  regarding  Sedulius  are  Isidore  of 
Seville  and  Fortunatus  of  Poitiers.  Jerome  (Hieronymus)  left  a 


84  LATIN  HYMNS. 

catalogue  of  authors  from  the  time  of  St.  Peter  to  his  own  day. 
This  was  continued  by  Gennadius,  as  Notker  of  St.  Gall  tells  us, 
and  then  it  was  still  further  extended  by  Isidore.  Neither  Jerome 
nor  Gennadius  mention  our  poet ;  the  first  because  he  died  in  420, 
before  Sedulius  had  achieved  distinction,  and  the  second  possibly 
for  the  same  reason,  as  his  death  occurred  about  496  at  Marseilles. 
Isidore  (who  died  636)  then  undertook  to  supply  the  deficiencies  of 
the  catalogue  and  inserted  a  brief  note  respecting  Sedulius. 

Earlier  than  Isidore,  however,  is  Fortunatus  (530-609),  who 
names  our  author  as  one  of  the  five  first  Christian  poets.  Juven- 
cus  he  dates  at  330  A.D.  ;  Sedulius  flourished  in  the  first  half  of 
the  fifth  century  ;  Prudentius  was  converted  in  405  ;  Paulinus 
died  in  458,  and  Aralor  was  at  his  zenith  in  560.  This  would 
seem  to  fix  pretty  closely  the  period  to  which  Sedulius  belongs. 

References  in  the  manuscripts  are  of  no  additional  value.  They 
tell  us  that  he  was  a  "  Gentile  layman,"  or,  in  other  words,  a 
person  not  of  Italian  birth  ;  that  he  learned  philosophy  in  Italy  ; 
was  converted  and  baptized  by  Macedonius,  a  presbyter  ;  and  that 
he  wrote  his  theological  works  in  Arcadia,  or,  as  some  say,  Achaia. 
The  Vatican  "Codex  of  the  Queen  of  Sweden"  calls  him  a 
"  verse-maker' '  and  "  teacher  of  the  art  of  heroic  metre."  Another 
codex  adds  that  he  also  taught  other  varieties  of  metrical  compo 
sition,  and  that  all  this  happened  in  the  days  of  the  younger  Theo- 
dosius,  son  of  Arcadius,  and  of  Valentinian,  son  of  Constant]' ne. 
Of  his  specific  writings  still  another  codex  states  that  he  "  put 
forth  in  Achaia  this  book  against  error  and  composed  in  verse  a 
commendation  of  the  Christian  faith." 

Some  Sedulius,  "  notable  for  his  writings,"  appears  to  have 
found  his  way  into  Spain  where,  in  the  year  428,  Isicius,  a  Pales 
tine  monk,  who  had  become  Bishop  of  Toledo,  detained  him  for 
his  good  fellowship  at  Toledo.  With  him  is  said  to  have  tarried 
a  certain  Bishop  Oretanus,  and  the  inference  is  that  these  three 
worthies  held  numerous  symposia  upon  theology  and  literature. 
But  the  story  is  denied  by  Nicolaus  Antonius,  the  historian  of  old 
Spanish  scholarship. 

Those  minute  and  laborious  investigators,  the  Benedictines, 
have,  with  ant-like  patience,  threaded  every  corner  of  the  labyrinth 
in  which  these  stray  facts  are  gathered.  They  assert  that  Mace 
donius  probably  received  him  after  he  had  been  baptized  by  some 


C^ELIUS  SEDULIUS  AND  HIS  ALPHABET  HYMN.     *<5 

one  else.  And  while  we  do  not  know  under  what  master  he 
studied  theology,  nor  even  where  the  school  was  located,  we  know 
that  Sedulius  became  presbyter  in  a  church  whose  bishop's  name 
was  Ursinus,  and  where  Ursicinus,  Laurentius,  and  Gallicanus 
were  his  co-presbyters. 

Ussher  relates  that  the  epithet  Scotigena — the  Scot — was  fre 
quently  applied  to  him.  Trithemius  gives  us  to  understand  that 
he  was  led  by  love  of  learning  to  visit  France,  then  Italy,  then 
Asia,  and  then  Achaia,  and  that  his  reputation  was  gained  in  the 
city  of  Rome.  Sixtus  Senensis  compares  him  to  Apollonius  of 
Tyana  in  his  zealous  pursuit  of  wisdom  ;  and  enlarges  the  list  of 
countries  which  he  traversed  by  adding  Britain  and  Spain.  Under 
Theodosius  and  at  Rome,  he  too  declares  Sedulius  to  have  been 
famous  in  prose  and  verse.  But  Ussher  first  claimed  him  for 
Britain  ;  and  Ussher  it  was  who  maintained  that  he  was  a  pupil  of 
that  Hildebert  who  ranks  among  the  earliest  of  the  Irish  bishops. 
It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  somewhere  in  Britain  in  those  days 
there  was  the  light  of  Christianity,  for  in  432  St.  Patrick  set  out 
from  Scotland  "  to  convert  Ireland."  Nor  can  we  omit  to  notice 
that  Ussher  styles  Sedulius  "  Scotus  Hybernensis,"  thus  origi 
nating  the  expression  "  Scotch-Irishman,"  but  using  it  in  exactly 
the  reverse  of  its  modern  sense. 

So  far  as  these  partial  facts  and  conjectures  go  we  are  safe  in 
affirming  that  Sedulius  was  a  learned  and  studious  person,  prob 
ably  an  Irishman — for  at  that  time  Scot  and  Irishman  were  synony 
mous — and  that  he  gained  renown  about  the  year  434,  having 
studied  in  Italy,  travelled  extensively,  and  been  a  resident  in 
Achaia.  The  temptation  is,  however,  irresistible  to  make  him 
Irish  rather  than  Scotch,  upon  the  strength  of  the  most  ancient 
"  bull  "  on  record.  It  is  found  in  the  Alphabet  Hymn  and  reads 
thus  : 

"  Quarta  die  jam  foetidus  "  Upon  the  fourth  day  Lazarus 

Vitam  recepit  Lazarus,  Revived,  though  all  malodorous  ; 

Cunctisque  liber  vinculis  And  freed  from  the  enchaining  ground 

Factus  superstcs  est  sibi."  Himself  his  own  survivor  found  !" 

The  writings  of  Sedulius  are  more  numerous  than  might  be  sup 
posed.  Those  which  have  been  preserved  are  nine,  two  in  verse 
and  the  rest  in  prose.  The  most  elaborate  is  a  commentary  on 
the  four  Gospels,  dedicated  to  the  abbot  Macedonius  and  t<> 


86 


LATIN  HYMNS. 


which  he  prefixed  his  Carmen  Paschale.  He  also  wrote  on  the 
Pauline  Epistles,  as  did  his  namesake  of  the  ninth  century.  To 
Theodosius  he  addressed  a  book.  He  wrote  treatises  on  the 
books  of  Priscian  and  Donatus,  the  grammarians.  He  also  treated 
of  the  miracles  of  Christ  in  prose  and  sent  out  many  "  epistles  of 
Sedulius  Scotigena."  His  poetry  is  comprised  in  the  Alphabet 
Hymn  ;  in  the  Carmen  Paschale  whence  we  get  nothing  for  hym- 
nology  except  the  hexameter  Salve  Sancta  Parens  enixa  (puerpera 
regem)  ;  and  in  the  Elegy,  from  which  comes  the  Cantemus  socii. 

The  Carmen  Paschale  is  an  epic  in  the  Virgilian  style.  The 
Elegy  is  an  exhortation  to  the  faithful.  But  the  Alphabet  Hymn 
has  enriched  the  Church  with  two  lyrics,  one  on  the  Nativity  and 
one  on  the  Slaughter  of  the  Innocents.  By  placing  the  first  stanza 
side  by  side  with  the  first  stanza  of  the  famous  Ambrosian  hymn, 
it  is  easily  seen  that  they  are  the  same. 


Ambrosian. 
1  A  solis  ortus  cardine 
Et  usque  terrae  limitem 
Christum  canamus  principem 
Natum  Mariae  virginis." 


Sedulian. 

'  A  solis  ortus  cardine 
Ad  usque  terrae  limitem 
Christum  canamus  principem 
Natum  Maria  virgine." 


But  this  is  no  unusual  occurrence  in  days  when  the  language  of 
the  Psalms  was  employed  in  the  Ambrosian  hymns,  and  when 
the  Ambrosian  hymns  themselves  furnished  a  convenient  foun 
dation  for  the  later  praises  of  the  Church.  Not  only  did  Sedulius 
imitate  them  closely,  but  Ennodius,  Fortunatus,  Gregory,  Bede, 
Rabanus,  and  Damiani — with  many  other  unknown  writers — 
studied  and  copied  their  metre  and  expression.  A  curious  in 
stance  of  this  same  copying  and  following  can  be  found  in  our 
own  hymn.  In  it  the  stanza,  Ibant  magi  quam  viderant,  contains 
two  lines  which  have  been  inserted  bodily  in  a  production  of  the 
fourteenth  or  fifteenth  century.  It  is  true  that  they  are  very  sug 
gestive  and  beautiful,  but  when  Sedulius  wrote 

"  Stellam  sequentes  praeviam 
Lumen  requirunt  lumine," 

he  wrote  what  was  original  with  him,  but  which  was  sheer  theft  in 
the  hands  of  the  author  of  Hymnis  laudum  preconiis,  who  neverthe 
less  takes  the  couplet  to  grace  the  feast  of  the  Three  Kings. 

Latin  hymns  are  by  no  means  all  beautiful  or  all  graceful.  The 
earlier  pieces  appear  and  reappear — fragments  from  the  better 


C&LIUS  SEDULIUS  AND  HIS  ALPHABET  HYMN.     87 

workmanship  of  the  past — throughout  the  Dark  Ages.  And  here 
we  must  leave  Sedulius.  If  he  was  indeed  the  companion  of 
Hildebert,  his  story  belongs  to  that  fabulous  age  of  the  British 
Church  when  bishops  were  but  simple  pastors  and  when  great 
purity  and  truth  prevailed.  In  the  Alphabet  Hymn  there  are 
references  to  the  direct  Scripture  narrative;  to  the  "enclosed 
John"  who  greets  the  Saviour;  to  Him  fed  with  a  little  milk, 
who  Himself  feeds  the  birds  ;  to  the  great  Shepherd  revealed  to 
shepherds  ;  to  Herod  who  seems  to  fear  a  King  who  does  not 
covet  earthly  dignities  ;  to  the  Magi  who  seek  their  Light  from 
the  light ;  to  the  healing  of  the  sick  and  the  raising  of  the  dead  ; 
to  the  water  that  blushes  into  wine,  as  perhaps  Crashaw  had  read  ; 
to  Peter  who  fears  by  nature  and  walks  the  wave  by  faith  ;  to 
Lazarus  "  his  own  survivor  ;"  to  Judas  the  carnifex  who  professed 
peace  by  his  kiss  which  was  not  in  his  soul  ;  to  Him  who  tri 
umphing  over  Tartarus  returned  of  Himself  to  heaven.  Such  is 
the  hymn,  and  upon  reading  it  one  is  not  surprised  that  Fortunatus 
called  its  author  Sedulius  dulcis — the  sweet  Sedulius.  Nay, 
Rudolph  of  Dunstable  goes  so  far  as  to  perpetrate  a  pun,  and  de 
clares  that  Sedulius  sedulously  sings  of  things  that  are  old  and  new. 
And  the  dear  man  of  God,  Dr.  Martin  Luther  of  blessed  memory, 
who  had  no  relish  for  Ambrose's  hymns,  called  our  Irishman  a 
poeta  Christianissimus,  and  translated  into  his  massive  German 
both  the  hymns  the  Breviary  had  extracted  from  his  chief  poem. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

VENANTIUS  FORTUNATUS  THE  TROUBADOUR. 

VENANTIUS  HONORIUS  CLEMENTIANUS  FORTUNATUS  was  a  man 
not  satisfied  with  four  names.  In  jest  or  earnest  he  assumed  an 
other,  Theodosius.  In  point  of  time  he  had  an  interesting  posi 
tion  ;  in  regard  to  residence  his  story  becomes  really  valuable ; 
and  when  we  add  that  he  gave  to  the  Church  several  of  her  best- 
known  hymns,  he  appears  before  us  as  a  person  unfamiliar,  but 
highly  attractive. 

If,  as  we  have  reason  to  think,  he  came  into  France  in  566  or 
567,  at  the  age  of  thirty-five  or  thirty-six,  we  must  suppose  him  to 
have  been  born  about  531.  He  was  an  Italian  of  Treviso,  which  is 
not  far  northwest  of  Venice  and  northeast  of  Padua.  Of  his 
parentage  and  early  education  (except  the  fact  that  he  was  trained 
at  Ravenna)  we  are  ignorant ;  but  he  is  said  to  have  been  ac 
quainted  with  Boethius,  a  thing  hard  to  believe,  for  the  phi 
losopher  perished  in  524.  We  are  left  in  some  doubt  whether  he 
had  set  forth  from  Italy  because  the  Lombards  were  about  to  in 
vade  his  part  of  it,  or  whether  religious  motives  were  at  the  bottom 
of  this  ' '  exile, "  as  he  is  very  ready  to  call  it. 

Judging  his  unknown  past  by  his  better-known  later  history,  he 
was  a  man  of  affable  and  genial  character,  who  could  pay  for  all 
favors  in  the  small  coin  of  panegyric,  and  whose  pen  filled  his 
pocket  and  procured  him  the  hospitality  of  the  rich  and  the  great 
of  the  earth.  We  know  he  could  sing,  for  he  says  so  himself ; 
and  he  could  also  turn  verses  so  sweet  and  mellow  that  even  the 
poorest  of  them  were  learned  by  his  admirers  and  recited  again 
with  much  delight.  Now  it  happened  that  his  eyes  were  affected, 
and  his  friend  Gregory  of  Tours  sent  him  some  of  the  blessed  St. 
Martin's  holy  lamp-oil.  When  this  was  rubbed  upon  them — and 
it  was  doubtless  good  oil,  and  therefore  not  an  objectionable  oint 
ment — he  was  greatly  helped.  He  consequently  showed  his 
gratitude  in  two  ways  :  by  making  a  pilgrimage  to  the  blessed  St. 


VENANT1US  FORTUNATUS    THE    TROUBADOUR.     89 

Martin's  own  town,  and  by  writing  the  blessed  St.  Martin's  biog 
raphy.  This  last  he  accomplished  to  the  extent  of  four  books  of 
verse,  employing,  without  any  apparent  scruple,  the  much  more 
classic  and  elaborate  treatise  of  Sulpicius  Severus  as  the  ground 
work  of  his  own.  It  was  this  journey  which  raises  the  question 
whether  he  was  avoiding  the  Lombards  or  performing  a  pious  vow 
when  he  entered  France.  Perhaps  in  this,  as  in  other  events  of 
his  life,  the  religious  garment  covered  the  secular  desire. 

From  his  native  country,  then,  he  made  his  way  into  another 
and  less  cultivated  region.  There  was  a  Gallo-Roman  society  at 
the  time,  very  much  as  there  now  are  groups  of  educated  persons 
in  Siberia,  or  in  the  seaboard  cities  of  China.  A  certain  free 
masonry  of  intelligence  passed  a  literary  man  along  from  castle  to 
cloister  and  from  cloister  to  court.  It  was  a  period  when 
classic  learning  was  at  its  lowest  ebb,  and  when  the  Romance 
tongues,  like  the  second  growth  of  a  forest,  were  thickly  clustering 
in  upon  the  few  survivors  of  the  ancient  groves  of  literature.  The 
sixth  century  was  removed  from  the  past,  but  had  not  attained  to 
much  on  its  own  account. 

Yet  we  must  not  think  that  this  century  was  barren  of  begin 
nings.  The  Merving  kings — Clovis,  and  Childebert,  and  Clo- 
taire  the  First,  and  Charibert — had  now  given  place  to  Chilperic 
on  the  throne  of  France.  Indeed,  some  writers  are  inclined  to 
make  this  sixth  century  the  true  commencement  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  it  is  very  certain  that  we  can  see  a  great  deal  in  the  story 
of  Fortunatus  which  is  mediaeval.  Moreover,  Mohammed  was 
born  in  570,  at  Mecca,  while  our  future  bishop  was  traversing 
Gaul.  And  nearly  contemporary  with  our  author's  birth — that  is, 
m  533 — comes  the  announcement  of  the  supremacy  of  the  Roman 
bishop,  which  culminated  in  590  in  the  strong  administration  of 
Gregory  the  Great.  Fortunatus  lived,  therefore,  in  days  when 
Latin  Christianity  was  taking  shape,  and  when  the  most  aggressive 
of  false  religions  was  springing  up.  We  have  indeed  said,  in 
effect,  that  the  Western  Empire  was  at  an  end,  and  that  the  Mon 
archy  of  France  had  begun  in  476. 

Thus,  as  he  looked  backward,  the  Italian  refugee  could  recall 
the  successive  blows  of  barbarian  swords — the  swords  of  Alaric, 
and  Genseric,  and  Attila,  and  Odoacer — under  which  Rome  had 
fallen.  When  Alboin  started  his  raid  from  Pannonia  in  568,  with 


90  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Lombards  (Longobardi)  and  Gepidae  and  twenty  thousand  Saxons, 
it  was  surely  enough  to  make  a  troubadour  take  refuge  at  Tours. 

Our  materials  for  the  biography  of  Fortunatus  from  this  point 
in  the  story  become  more  available.  He  kept  an  itinerary,  which 
was  lost ;  but  he  wrote  often  to  Gregory  of  Tours,  and  this  seems 
to  be  the  only  correspondence  which  he  conducted  in  a  natural 
and  ordinary  manner.  From  it  we  learn  that  he  crossed  the 
mountains  in  a  "  snowy  July,"  and  had  written  either  "  on  horse 
back  or  half  asleep."  He  passed  some  time  at  Metz  and  Rheims. 
His  days  and  nights  were  spent  in  travelling  and  feasting  and  in 
preparing  songs  and  odes,  to  the  consternation  of  his  modern 
biographer,  Luchi,  who  does  not  find  much  evidence  of  piety  in 
these  proceedings. 

Fortunatus  is  his  own  exponent,  and  his  language,  literally 
translated,  gives  us  a  vivid  picture  of  the  way  in  which  he  made 
friends  with  everybody.  ' '  Travelling  among  the  barbarians' ' 
(he  writes  to  Gregory),  "  on  a  long  journey,  either  weary  of  the 
way  or  drunk  beneath  the  icy  chill,  at  the  exhortation  of  the  muse 
(I  know  not  whether  more  cold  or  sober),  a  new  Orpheus  I  gave 
voices  to  the  wood,  and  the  wood  replied.  "  The  sentence  illus 
trates  not  merely  his  experience  but  also  his  style  of  composition, 
which  is  turgid  and  frequently  obscure.  His  panegyrics,  for  ex 
ample,  abound  in  the  most  fulsome  flattery,  arrayed  bombastically 
in  a  string  of  nouns,  verbs,  and  adjectives  half  a  page  long.  The 
real  idea  walks  within  much  of  his  Latin,  like  a  pigmy  in  a  great 
court  train,  ridiculously  small  and  ridiculously  pretentious. 

Sometimes  these  same  expressions  of  our  poet  betoken  a  con 
vivial  familiarity  with  his  friend  Gregory  of  Tours,  which  is  not 
precisely  canonical.  Many  post- classical  words  appear,  and 
phrases  which  no  grammarian  would  easily  justify.  The  man  is 
full  of  sly  hints  of  good  eating  and  drinking,  and  has  a  high-flown 
style  of  compliment,  as  when  he  writes  to  Lupus,  "  As  often  as  I 
put  together  the  parts  of  your  discourse,  I  thought  that  I  reclined 
upon  ambrosial  roses."  To  Sigismund  and  Aregesles,  two 
brothers,  he  declares  that,  "  This  sweet  letter  reveals  to  me  the 
names  of  friends.  Here  is  the  brilliant  Sigismund,  and  here  is  the 
modest  Aregesles.  After  Italy,  O  Rhine,  thou  givest  me  parents, 
and  by  the  coming  of  these  brothers  I  shall  be  no  longer  a 
stranger."  In  fact,  he  picked  up  "brothers"  and  "parents" 


VENANTIUS  FORTUNATUS    THE    TROUBADOUR.     91 

with  charming  facility,  and  had  a  dexterity  in  drawing  a  corner  of 
the  mantle  of  royal  favor  over  him  which  any  courtier  might  covet 
Thus  he  went — we  cannot  well  detect  in  what  order  or  by  what 
method,  but  pretty  conclusively  as  a  troubadour  might  have  done 
— all  through  France.  Like  Chamisso,  he  proposed  to 

"  Take  his  harp  in  his  hand 
And  wander  the  wide  world  over, 
Singing  from  land  to  land." 

With  Sigebert,  King  of  Austrasia,  he  contracted  quite  a  friend 
ship,  and  being  at  Poitiers  when  Gelesuintha  was  put  to  death,  he 
lamented  her  in  verses  which  pleased  Sigebert,  her  brother-in-Jaw 
and  avenger,  greatly.  He  also  became  well  acquainted  with  Eu- 
phronius  of  Tours,  nephew  of  St.  Gregory,  the  bishop,  and  thus 
laid  a  good  foundation  for  ecclesiastical  preferment.  But  it  was  to 
Poitiers  that  he  gradually  drifted,  and  there  circumstances  fixed  him 
for  the  most  of  his  life. 

We  may  safely  conclude  that  Tours,  which  is  not  a  great  dis 
tance  off,  first  attracted  his  wandering  feet.  He  had  a  duty  to  the 
blessed  St.  Martin's  holy  lamp  and  to  the  blessejl  St.  Martin's 
holy  memory,  and  these  devout  proceedings  were  more  than  suffi 
cient  to  commend  him  to  a  hospitable  bishop.  Contemporary 
accounts  of  him  are  lacking,  if  we  except  the  brief  notice  of  Paul 
the  Deacon,  which  cannot  properly  be  called  contemporary,  as  it 
is  in  his  history  of  the  Lombards,  which  was  prepared  in  the  first 
half  of  the  eighth  century.  But  Fortunatus  again  comes  to  our 
rescue  with  quite  a  goodly  supply  of  verses  and  with  some  epistles 
which  show  that  the  life  of  that  period  was  a  curious  resultant 
between  the  Roman  and  barbarian  ideas.  It  ought  in  honesty  to 
be  added  that  Brunehilda  was  no  saint,  and  that  the  court  of  the 
Merovingians  was  so  barbaric  that  it  stood  by  and  saw  her  torn  to 
death,  at  eighty,  at  the  heels  of  a  wild  horse  ;  and  this  was  later 
even  than  Fortunatus' s  day. 

By  this  time  Treviso  (Trevisium)  had  been  regularly  attacked 
by  the  Lombards,  and  the  pilgrimage,  which  had  changed  to  a 
pleasure-trip,  changed  again  to  a  residence.  He  speaks  of  himself 
later  as  having  been  "  for  nine  years  an  exile  from  Italy,"  and  his 
only  reference  to  his  family  that  is  discoverable  is  when  he  tells 
the  Abbess  Agnes  that  she  is  as  dear  to  him  as  his  own  sister 


92  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Titiana.  He  is  a  poet  driven  like  a  leaf  before  the  storm,  and  he  is 
whirled  first  into  Tours  and  then  into  the  safe  eddy  of  Poitiers,  which 
he  celebrates  reverently  in  song  as  the  home  of  the  great  Hilary. 

His  royal  friendships  are  made  apparent  by  epiihalamia — espe 
cially  that  on  the  marriage  of  Sigebert  and  Brunehilda — and  by 
various  odes.  But  now  comes  the  real  romance  of  our  poet's  life. 
Clotaire  the  First  had  married  a  fair  woman  named  Radegunda, 
whose  piety  gave  him  not  a  little  trouble.  She  was  determined  to 
keep  all  her  vigils  and  fasts  and  to  exert  herself  in  works  of  charity, 
even  to  the  scrubbing  of  the  base  of  the  altar  with  her  own  hands. 
It  was  one  of  her  greatest  pleasures  to  take  leprous  women  in  her 
arms  and  kiss  them,  and  when  one  of  the  lepers  said  to  her,  "  Who 
will  kiss  you  after  you  embrace  us?"  she  "answered  benevo 
lently,  that  if  others  will  not  kiss  me,  it  is  truly  no  affair  of  mine.  " 

It  would  be  beneath  the  dignity  of  this  narrative,  if  it  were  not 
a  portion  of  her  own  life  in  the  Latin,  for  us  to  record  the  incident 
which  helped  to  cause  her  separation  from  her  husband.  She  had 
arisen  at  night  and  came  back  thoroughly  chilled,  and  with  her 
feet  properly  cold.  Clotdre  growled  out  that  he  would  sooner 
have  a  nun  for  a  wife  (jugalem  monachani)  than  such  a  queen. 
So  she  took  him  at  his  word,  founded  a  convent  at  Poitiers,  and 
distinguished  herself  to  later  generations  by  many  noble  works. 

Over  this  convent  she  placed  her  maid  Agnes,  and  served  her 
former  servant  with  profound  humility  and  obedience,  albeit  she 
must  always  have  been  herself  the  ruling  spirit  of  the  place.  With 
Fortunatus  she  formed  a  close  friendship.  And  as  this  is  the  begin 
ning  of  the  conventual  and  ecclesiastical  side  of  his  career,  we  may 
as  well  bring  the  story  up  to  its  parallel  point  in  current  history. 

Gregory,  Archbishop  of  Tours  and  historian  of  France,  always 
addresses  his  friend  Fortunatus  as  presbyter  Italicus.  That  Fortu 
natus  embraced  the  monastic  life  at  Aquileia  (about  558-59)  has 
been  maintained,  and  the  opinion  is  also  fairly  defended  that  he 
was  enrolled  as  a  "  cleric"  at  Poitiers,  although  he  was  novus,  or 
a  "  new-comer,"  there.  He  had  evidently  some  ^z&zsz'ecclesiacti- 
cal  connection,  and  those  were  days  when  the  celibacy  of  the 
clergy  was  much  mooted,  but  when  the  wandering  monks  had  not 
yet  been  held  to  the  stringencies  of  the  monastic  orders.  If  we 
ask  Fortunatus  why  he  remained  in  Gaul,  he  replies  that  Rade 
gunda  retained  him  there  "  by  her  prayers  and  vows."  It  is  con- 


VENANTIUS  FORTUNATUS    THE    TROUBADOUR      93 

jectural  that  he  was  first  chaplain  to  the  convent,  and  it  is  certain 
that  then  he  was  elevated  to  the  rank  of  Bishop  of  Poitiers. 

To  this  daughter  of  Berthar,  King  of  the  Thuringi,  our  trouba 
dour  now  paid  his  devoirs.  Often  at  "  the  convivial  banquets  of 
the  barbarians"  he  had  "  poured  forth  his  verses."  He  was  now 
to  become  the  devoted  cavalier  of  a  queen  and  an  abbess,  and  to 
furnish  literature  with  some  very  unique  specimens  of  religio- 
amatory  verse. 

The  life  of  Radegunda,  written  by  Fortunatus  and  amplified  by 
the  nun  Bandonivia,  furnishes  many  interesting  facts  about  this  holy 
woman.  She  took  her  final  resolution  to  separate  from  her  hus 
band  after  he  had  unjustly  put  her  brother  to  death.  On  this  she 
went  to  St.  Medard  and  declared  her  intention  of  celibacy,  and 
thence  to  the  church  of  St.  Martin,  at  Tours,  where  she  made  her 
formal  vows.  From  this  she  retired  to  her  villa  called  Suedas, 
near  Poitiers,  which  she  turned  into  a  convent.  Thither  in  569 
the  Emperor  Justinus  (Justin  II.)  sent  rich  presents,  one  being  a 
portion  of  the  true  cross.  This  inspired  Fortunatus  with  a  new 
song,  and  he  broke  out  in  the  Vexilla  Regis,  which  is  surely  one 
of  the  most  stirring  strains  in  our  hymnology. 

The  following  version  expresses  literally  and  without  modifica 
tion  the  ideas  set  forth  in  the  Latin  : 

"VEXILLA   REGIS    PRODEUNT." 

The  royal  banners  forward  fly  ; 
The  cross  upon  them  cheers  the  sky  ; 
That  cross  whereon  our  Maker  hung, 
In  human  form,  by  anguish  wrung. 

For  he  was  wounded  bitterly 
By  that  dread  spear-thrust  on  the  tree, 
And  there,  to  set  us  free  from  guilt, 
His  very  life  in  blood  he  spilt. 

Accomplished  now  is  what  was  told 

By  David  in  his  psalm  of  old, 

Who  saith,*  "  The  heathen  world  shall  see 

God  as  their  King  upon  the  tree." 


*  This  is  a  passage  not  discernible  in  the  Psalms.  Justin  Martyr 
says  that  the  Jews  expunged  it.  Tertullian  {Contra  Marcion,  III.)  men 
tions  it — and  in  two  other  places.  Daniel,  Thesaurus,  I.  :  162,  has  a 
learned  note  on  the  subject. 


94  LATIN  HYMNS. 

O  tree,  renowned  and  shining  high, 
Thy  crimson  is  a  royal  dye  ! 
Elect  from  such  a  worthy  root 
To  bear  those  holy  limbs,  thy  fruit. 

Blessed  upon  whose  branches  then 
Hung  the  great  gift  of  God  to  men  ; 
Whose  price,  of  human  life  and  breath, 
Redeemed  us  from  the  thrall  of  death. 

Thy  bark  exhales  a  perfume  sweet 
With  which  no  nectar  may  compete  ; 
And,  joyful  in  thine  ample  fruit, 
A  noble  triumph  crowns  thy  root. 

Hail,  altar!  and  thou,  Victim,  hail  ! 
Thy  glorious  passion  shall  not  fail  ; 
Whereby  our  life  no  death  might  lack, 
And  life  from  death  be  rendered  back. 

O  Cross,  our  only  hope,  all  hail  ! 
In  this  the  time  when  woes  assail. 
To  all  the  pious  grant  thy  grace, 
And  all  the  sinners'  sins  efface  ! 

At  this  time  Fortunatus  also  composed  a  long  poem  of  thanks 
to  Justin  and  Sophia  for  gifts  sent  to  himself,  by  which  it  would 
appear  that  he  was  tolerably  well  identified  with  the  interests  of 
Radegunda  and  her  convent. 

From  this  date  onward  his  friendship  with  Agnes  and  Radegunda 
exposed  both  him  and  them  to  very  considerable  comment.  He 
even  refers  to  it  in  one  of  his  poems,  addressed  to  the  abbess,  in 
which  he  protests  the  purity  of  his  conduct.  But  it  is  not  hard  to 
see  how  his  expressions  might  be  misunderstood.  They  are  fre 
quently  fervid  beyond  the  courtesies  of  compliment,  and  they  re 
mind  us  all  the  while  of  those  singers  of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
centuries  who  begin  with  William,  Count  of  this  very  city  of 
Poitiers  (1071-1 127),  and  who  have  made  the  name  of  "  trouba 
dour'*  synonymous  with  the  praise  of  love  and  beauty.  Fortu 
natus  calls  on  Christ,  and  Peter,  and  Paul,  and  Mary  to  witness  the 
entire  propriety  of  his  love  for  Agnes  and  Radegunda,  but  he  fol 
lows  it  with  lines  which  Bertrand  de  Born  or  Alain  Chartier  might 
have  composed. 

Really  there  is  a  great  deal  of  this  exuberant  poetry  in  the  wor- 


VENANTIUS  FORTUNATUS    THE    TROUBADOUR.     95 

thy  chaplain.  He  wrote  every  sort  of  odd  acrostic  on  the  holy 
cross,  reminding  us  in  more  ways  than  one  of  Damasus,  or  of  the 
later  cavalier  poets  of  England.  He  tells  Radegunda,  who  seems 
his  principal  star,  that  everything  is  alike  when  he  does  not  see 
her  ;  that  although  the  sky  is  cloudless,  yet,  if  she  is  absent,  "  the 
day  stands  without  a  sun."  He  excuses  himself  in  other  verses 
for  sending  her  violets  instead  of  lilies  and  roses.  Any  incident 
in  which  Radegunda  plays  a  part  is  enough  to  turn  the  poetic 
stream  upon  the  mill-wheel  of  his  verse.  If  there  are  flowers  on 
the  altar  ;  if  there  are  flowers  sent  by  her  to  himself ;  if  she  has 
retired  from  the  world  to  perform  her  vows  ;  if  she  has  returned 
again  to  the  public  gaze,  and  especially  if  he  has  been  at  a  little 
dinner  or  has  received  some  agreeable  little  dishes — then  the  bard 
strings  his  harp  ! 

It  is  quite  amusing  to  read  some  of  these  effusions.  He  advises 
Radegunda,  as  Paul  did  Timothy,  to  drink  wine  on  occasion. 
And  when  the  queen  and  the  abbess  conspire  to  make  his  life 
pleasant  he  has  plenty  of  metrical  gratitude  to  offer.  They  send 
him  butter  (bulyr)  in  a  lordly  dish  ;  they  furnish  chestnuts  in 
baskets  woven  by  their  own  hands  ;  they  provide  milk,  and  pru- 
nelles,  and  olives,  and  eggs.  For  all  these  he  renders  thanks  in 
kind.  Never  were  eggs  and  butter  sung  in  a  loftier  strain  !  But 
sometimes  the  poet  descends  a  trifle  from  his  elevated  phrases. 
He  says  pathetically  in  one  of  these  effusions  that  they  sent  him 
"  various  delicacies  for  his  full  stomach"  (tumido  venire),  and  that 
he  got  asleep  after  it  and  failed  to  furnish  the  appropriate  verses. 
He  laments  this  in  proper  metre,  declaring  that  he  had  opened  his 
mouth  and  shut  his  eyes  (the  old  gormandizer !)  and  had  eaten 
on,  regardless  of  his  duty.  And  for  this  he  craves  forgiveness 
from  his  beala  domnia  [it  ought  to  be  domind\filia — his  blessed 
queen-daughter.  But  be  good  enough  to  observe  that  his  own 
gifts  in  return  are  very  small,  and  that  he  is  always  apologizing 
and  hoping  that  they  may  not  be  rejected.  Truly  this  was  such  a 
man  as  Sir  Walter  Scott  has  sung,  for 

"  The  best  of  good  cheer  and  the  seat  by  the  fire 
Was  the  undenied  right  of  the  barefooted  friar." 

Only  it  may  be  safely  questioned  whether  our  Fortunatus  was  any 
more  of  an  ascetic  than  Damasus  himself.  One  almost  wishes  for 


96  LATIN  HYMNS, 

an  historical  picture — and  it  should  be  a  good  theme,  by  the  way — 
in  which  Fortunatus  and  his  two  friends  appear.  It  should  be 
that  celebrated  feast  which  he  describes  [J.  P.  Migne  :  Patrologia  ; 
Opera  Forlunati,  Lib.  xi.,  cap.  ii.],  where  Agnes  had  adorned  the 
tables  and  the  apartment  with  "  every  species  of  blossoming  plant ;" 
where  the  rich  wines,  and  the  generous  fare,  and  the  crystal,  and 
the  gold,  and  the  flowers  should  brighten  the  fine  hall  of  the 
chateau  ;  and  where,  perhaps,  the  ecclesiastic  should  take  his 
small  harp  and  strike  its  strings  with  a  delicate  hand,  while  the 
fair  face  of  Agnes  and  the  darker  beauty  of  Radegunda  should 
inspire  his  song. 

One  traces  to  this  mellow  undercurrent  of  human  life  the  swing 
of  his  best  lyrics — the  Pange  lingua  gloriosi  praelium  certaminis  and 
those  hymns  to  the  Virgin  of  which  he  was  the  earliest  promoter. 
No  ene  can  doubt  the  influence  of  these  women  upon  the  Ave 
marts  stella  or  the  Quern  terra  ponhts  aefhera.  Say  what  we  please 
about  his  piety,  he  has  written  what  will  live  with  the  best.  And 
to  compare  him  to  the  melancholy  Cowper,  as  Mrs.  Charles  has 
done,  can  only  be  characterized  as  a  most  amusing  misconception. 

We  know  nothing  of  him  as  bishop  further  than  the  fact  that  the 
i'office  became  vacant  in  599,  and  he  was  an  available  as  well  as 
I  distinguished  candidate.  Surviving  Radegunda,  who  passed  away 
in  587,  he  died  about  609,  full  of  years  and  honors — the  last  of 
the  classics  and  the  first  of  the  troubadours  ;  the  connecting  link 
between  Prudentius  and  the  Middle  Ages  ;  the  biographer  of  some 
of  the  saints  and  the  interested  collector  of  many  legends  of  their 
miracles  ;  and,  finally,  the  first  of  Christian  poets  to  begin  that 
worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary  which  rose  to  a  passion  and  sank  to 
an  idolatry.  Venantius  Fortunatus  was  neither  a  bad  man  nor, 
in  the  highest  sense,  a  holy  man.  But  he  was  a  poet  in  spite  of 
his  barbaric  Latin,  and  a  writer  of  hymns  which  live  to-day,  long 
after  the  particulars  of  his  career  are  forgotten. 


CHAPTER   X. 

GREGORITJS    MAGNUS    [540-604], 

THE  materials  which  are  at  hand  for  the  life  of  Gregory  the 
Great  are,  if  anything,  too  numerous.  In  their  original  form  they 
include  all  that  Paul  the  Deacon  (quoted  by  the  Venerable  Bede) 
and  John  the  Deacon  (quoted  by  everybody)  have  chosen  to  relate. 
And  these  have  been  so  anxious  to  do  entire  justice  to  the  great 
Pope  that  they  fill  their  pages  with  miracles,  wonders,  and  signs, 
as  well  as  with  the  authentic  facts  of  history.  But  Gregory  carved 
for  himself  such  a  niche  in  the  temple  of  fame  that  we  are  not 
likely  to  go  very  far  astray  in  searching  for  the  proper  estimate  of 
his  work. 

It  may  be  safely  assumed  that  from  this  pontificate  dates  the 
supremacy  of  the  Roman  see.  It  was  Gregory  whose  missionary 
spirit  opened  the  doors  of  Britain  to  the  truth.  It  was  he  who, 
without  asserting  any  superior  claim,  opposed  successfully  the 
encroachments  of  the  Greek  patriarchs.  And  it  was  again  he  who 
gave  to  the  Church  her  sacred  melodies. 

He  was  born,  says  Paul  the  Deacon,  in  the  city  of  Rome,  of  a 
father  named  Gordianus  and  a  mother  named  Sylvia.  These 
people  were  of  the  Anician  family  and  were  also  of  distinguished 
religious  descent.  Felix — fourth  of  the  name  and  Pope  under  the 
title  of  Felix  III. — was  his  atainis,  or  great-great-great-grandfather. 
The  very  name  Gregorius  our  worthy  deacon  declares  to  be  the 
Greek  equivalent  of  the  word  "  Watchful." 

The  child  of  such  a  house  would  be  well  nurtured  in  all  the 
learning  of  the  time.  Hence,  he  was  trained  in  grammar,  rhetoric, 
and  dialectics — the  ancient  trivium  or  complete  course  of  liberal 
education.  Naturally,  too,  he  became  an  excellent  scholar.  And 
when  he  grew  up  he  was  called  to  an  important  post  in  Roman 
civil  affairs.  He  became  praetor  of  the  city — a  city  which  was 
subject  to  Byzantium  and  exposed  to  incursions  of  various  bar- 


98  LATIN  HYMNS. 

barian  invaders.  The  Lombards,  indeed,  attacked  it  during  his 
praetorship. 

At  this  period  of  his  life  his  love  for  display  was  as  remarkable 
as  his  subsequent  simplicity.  He  delighted  in  rich  attire  and  sur 
rounded  himself  with  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  his  position. 
A  rich  man  and  a  rich  man's  son,  he  was  thoroughly  in  sympathy 
with  passing  affairs,  and  as  Rome  bloomed  the  more  vigorously 
above  her  own  decay,  he  was  himself  one  of  those  "  flowers  of 
evil  "  whose  gaudy  hues  brightened  the  scene.  But  at  the  same 
time  he  became  accustomed  to  the  management  of  large  affairs, 
and  his  administration  secured  to  him  the  good  will  of  his  associ 
ates  and  subordinates.  It  can  often  be  noticed  that  these  early 
Fathers  came  to  their  power  in  the  Church  after  having  been  strictly 
and  carefully  trained  in  the  world.  Hilary  and  Ambrose  were  as 
conspicuous  examples  of  this  foreordination  as  was  Gregory  the 
Great. 

Not  long  previous  to  this  time — for  it  had  been  about  the  year 
of  Gregory's  birth— Benedict  had  reformed  the  monastic  order. 
His  work,  to  put  it  briefly,  consisted  in  guarding  the  entrance  to 
monasticism  and  in  regulating  the  hours,  habits,  and  customs  of 
those  celibates  who  professed  such  a  vocation  for  the  religious  life. 
From  his  wise  and  systematic  arrangements,  which  have  been  but 
little  improved  upon  though  often  reinforced  by  "  reformations," 
monasticism  derived  that  adaptation  to  the  active  and  practical  life 
of  the  West,  which  it  had  lacked  in  the  preceding  centuries.  In 
deed,  he  so  far  reacted  against  the  contemplative  idleness  of  the 
East,  as  to  aim  rather  at  an  industrial  than  a  learned  order.  But 
his  successors  corrected  this  defect,  and  gave  the  order  the  literary 
and  educational  character  which  has  been  its  greatest  claim  to  the 
gratitude  of  Christendom.  Thus  it  came  to  be  that  the  Benedictine 
Fathers  became  the  order  of  scholars,  the  editors  of  the  Fathers,  of 
the  Ada  Sanctorum,  and  of  the  Histoire  Litleraire  de  France.  The 
permanent  revenues,  the  fixity  and  quiet  of  these  monastic  lives, 
the  slow  coral-building  of  these  unknown  workers,  have  resulted 
in  gathering  'for  us  all  that  the  mediaeval  historian  can  desire  upon 
the  religious  side.  And  it  is  here  that,  delving  amid  the  dust  of 
these  mountainous  masses  of  literature,  the  student  of  Latin 
hymnology  will  find  his  rarest  delight.  For  these  acute  scholars 
have  literally  picked  up  and  printed,  yea,  and  what  is  more  to  the 


GREGORIUS  MAGNUS  [540-604].  99 

purpose,  they  have  indexed  and  classified — whatever  he  can  wish 
in  the  way  of  productions  in  prose  and  verse  by  any  known  author. 
The  old  MSS.  are  strained  through  into  readable  type.  Their  con 
tents  are  sorted  and  sifted.  And  he  who  pores  over  these  pages 
will  rise  from  them  at  length  with  a  profound  conviction  that  the 
scholarship  of  the  Latin  Church,  and  particularly  the  Benedictine 
Order,  deserves  well  from  the  world  of  letters  and  merits  the  admi 
ration  of  the  Church  Universal. 

Into  such  an  order  as  this — an  order  of  which  he  was  to  be 
one  of  the  most  illustrious  lights — a  divine  impulse  was  pressing 
Gregory.  He  grew  more  closely  attached  to  the  Benedictines  of 
Monte  Cassino.  His  religious  relatives  encouraged  his  evident 
zeal.  And  thus  after  vibrating  like  a  bee  between  the  odorous 
rose  and  the  honey-giving  clover,  he  settled  upon  the  humbler  and 
sweeter  flower  and  let  the  world  go  by. 

The  Arian  Lombards  had  encamped  upon  that  region  which  we 
after  their  name  now  call  Lombardy.  The  Roman  bishops  were 
already  the  prop  of  the  heathen  state  against  the  semi-Christian  in 
vaders  ;  but  with  Lombards,  and  those  whose  religion  was  only  a 
fiction,  their  influence  was  deplorably  slight.  Yet  as  Christianity 
increased,  according  to  George  Herbert's  simile, 

"  Like  to  those  trees  whom  shaking  fastens  more," 

the  Church  became  doubly  influential  through  the  skill  of  Gregory. 
He  felt  religion  to  be  the  source  of  the  truest  strength  and  thus  he 
turned  his  wealth  and  his  life  into  its  treasury. 

In  the  year  575  he  took  his  great  revenues  and  endowed  six 
new  monasteries  in  Sicily.  Then  he  established  a  seventh,  de 
voting  it  to  the  honor  of  St.  Andrew  ;  and  this  was  at  Rome,  in 
his  own  palace  on  the  Coelian  hill.  The  populace  who  had  seen 
him  in  silk  and  jewels  now  beheld  him,  a  poor  monk  of  the  Bene 
dictine  Order,  serving  the  beggars  at  the  gate.  In  humility  of 
demeanor  and  in  simplicity  of  food  he  became  a  model  to  his  fel 
low-monks.  He  attended  the  sick  in  his  new  hospital.  He  ate 
only  the  dried  com,  or  pulse,  which  his  mother  sent  to  him  already 
moistened  in  a  silver  bowl.  This  bowl  or  porringer  was  the  only 
relic  of  his  departed  splendor,  and  we  are  told  that  he  did  not 
keep  even  this,  but  gave  it  at  last  to  a  shipwrecked  sailor  for 


TOO  LATIN  HYMNS. 

whom  he  had  no  money,  and  who  begged  importunately  from 
him  when  he  was  writing  in  his  cell. 

The  intensity  of  his  devotion  led  him  into  great  austerities  of 
fasting  and  prayer  and  study  of  the  Scriptures.  He  outdid  the 
others  in  his  abstinence  from  food  and  ended  by  ruining  his  health, 
so  that  he  entered  the  papacy  with  a  broken  constitution.  When 
he  most  needed  the  support  of  a  vigorous  body  it  was  therefore 
denied  to  him. 

The  history  of  his  gradual  elevation  is  suggestive.  Pope  Bene 
dict  I.  made  him  one  of  the  seven  cardinal  deacons,  and  gave  him 
charge  of  one  of  the  seven  principal  divisions  of  the  city.  Pelagius 
II.  chose  him  to  head  an  embassy  to  Constantinople  in  578  to 
congratulate  Tiberius  on  his  accession  to  the  throne.  For  six 
years  he  remained  abroad  on  this  and  similar  service,  and  returned 
to  Rome  to  be  elected  abbot  of  St.  Andrew's  monastery.  Here 
he  was  perfectly  happy.  In  his  Dialogues  he  speaks  of  the  serene 
life  and  death  of  several  of  his  brethren,  and  his  latest  biographer 
(Rev.  J.  Barmby)  is  never  tired  of  relating  how  the  great  Pope 
perpetually  looked  back  with  regretful  love  to  those  quiet  and 
happy  days  of  peace  with  God  and  man. 

It  was  then  that  the  famous  incident  occurred  which  has  made 
historic  his  missionary  zeal,  and  has  handed  down  three  Latin 
puns  as  a  proof  that  a  man  can  be  witty  as  well  as  earnest. 

The  slave  market  at  Rome  had  received  some  new  captives — 
alas  !  when  was  it  not  the  scene  of  fresh  wretchedness  in  those 
awful  times?  But  these  were  of  remarkable  beauty  and  fairness 
of  skin,  and  John  the  Deacon  shall  tell  us  of  them  in  his  own 
words  :* 

"  Perceiving  among  the  rest  certain  boys  for  sale,  white  of  body, 
fair  in  form,  and  handsome  in  face,  distinguished  moreover  by  the 
brightness  (nitore)  of  their  hair,  he  asked  the  merchant  from  what 
country  he  had  brought  them.  He  answered,  '  From  the  island 
of  Britain,  whose  inhabitants  all  display  a  similar  beauty  (candore) 
of  face.'  Gregory  said,  '  Are  those  islanders  Christians  or  do  they 
yet  hold  to  their  pagan  errors  ? '  The  merchant  replied,  '  They 


*  The  same  story,  but  not  so  well  related,  is  in  the  life  by  Paul  of 
Monte  Cassino  and  is  repeated  in  Bede  (Hist.  Angl.  Lib.  II.  cap.  i). 
John's  Latin  is  a  trifle  cumbrous,  but  this  is  the  literal  translation  of  it. 


GREGORIUS  MAGNUS  [540-604].  101 

are  not  Christians,  but  are  entangled  in  their  pagan  delusions ' 
(laqueis).  Then  Gregory,  groaning  deeply,  said,  '  Alas  !  for 
shame  !  that  the  prince  of  darkness  should  own  those  splendid 
faces  ;  and  that  such  glorious  foreheads  (tantaque  fronlis  species) 
should  express  a  mind  vacant  of  the  inward  grace  of  God  !  '  Then 
he  asked  the  name  of  their  tribe.  The  merchant  responded, 
'  They  are  called  Angli.'  Then  he  said,  '  They  are  well  called 
Angli,  as  though  they  were  angels  (angeli)  for  they  have  angelic 
faces  ;  and  such  as  these  should  be  fellow-citizens  of  the  angels  in 
heaven.'  Again,  therefore,  he  inquired  what  was  the  name  of 
their  province.  The  merchant  told  him  '  Those  provincials  are 
called  Deiri.'  Then  Gregory  said,  '  They  are  well  called  Deiri, 
for  they  must  be  snatched  from  wrath  (de  ird)  and  gathered  to  the 
grace  of  Christ.  The  king  of  that  province,'  he  continued,  '  how 
is  he  named?'  The  merchant  replied,  'He  is  called  ^Elle.' 
And  Gregory,  alluding  to  the  name,  said,  '  It  is  well  that  the  king 
is  called  ^lle.  For  ^4//<?luia  in  praise  of  the  Creator  must  be 
sung  in  those  parts.'  ' 

Such  was  the  commencement  of  that  Christianizing  process 
which  eventually  brought  Anglo  Saxon  monks  to  Rome  for  educa 
tion — not  that  Rome  was  the  chief  source  and  centre  from  which 
the  work  of  Christianizing  the  English  was  effected.  That  strangely 
organized  Church,  which  Patrick  had  established  in  Ireland  and 
Columcille  (Columba)  had  propagated  to  Celtic  Scotland,  was  the 
missionary  Church  of  that  age.  Its  zeal  carried  the  faith  to  Scandi 
navia  in  the  person  of  its  royal  converts,  the  two  Olafs,  besides 
Christianizing  the  Norsemen  of  Ireland  and  the  lesser  islands.  Its 
missionaries  poured  southward  across  the  lines  that  sundered  Saxon 
from  Celt,  and  co-operated  mightily  with  the  more  languid  efforts 
of  the  Kentish  Church  established  by  Augustine.  And  up  to  the 
Synod  of  Whitby  in  664,  Patrick  rather  than  Peter  was  the  saint 
who  stood  the  highest  in  the  esteem  of  English  Christians. 

Yet  it  would  be  unfair  to  rob  Gregory  and  Augustine  of  the 
honor  of  having  begun  the  work,  and  begun  it  on  a  higher  and 
more  permanent  level  than  was  possible  to  the  Irish  Church. 
After  all,  Rome  stood  for  a  wider  conception  of  Church  and  social 
order  and  a  broader  Christian  culture.  It  is  to  her  victory  that 
we  owe  Bede  and  the  great. Churchmen,  who  adapted  the  learning 
and  lore  of  the  Latin  world  to  the  needs  of  English  Christendom. 


102  LATIN  HYMNS. 

And  so  in  Augustine's  mission  we  may  see  the  apostolic  succession, 
in  a  broader  sense  of  the  word  than  the  technical,  carried  to  Eng 
land,  to  be  transmitted  in  turn  to  America.  England  acknowledged 
the  gift  in  the  establishment  of  the  tax  called  "  Peter's  Pence"  for 
the  care  and  support  of  pilgrims  to  Rome,  and  the  support  of 
clerics,  who  went  to  study  in  the  Saxon  school  established  in  Rome. 
To  this  we  may  trace,  perhaps,  the  spread  of  hymn-writing  from 
Rome  to  England,  whose  results  are  gathered  into  the  Missals  and 
Breviaries  of  Sarum,  York,  and  Hereford,  and  that  elaborate  com 
pilation,  "  The  Hymns  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Church,"  which  Rev. 
J.  Stevenson  edited  for  the  Surtees  Society. 

The  mission  of  Augustine  led  to  far-reaching  consequences. 
One  was  that  the  higher  classes  of  Great  Britain  turned  toward 
Rome  as  the  centre  of  the  world,  and  one  of  the  remoter  con 
sequences  of  this  missionary  expedition  was  the  recognition  of  the 
papal  supremacy.  But  in  his  highest  flight  of  authority  Gregory 
the  First  never  assumed  nor  felt  the  consciousness  of  power  which 
caused  Gregory  the  Second  to  write  to  Leo,  the  Isaurian  :  "All 
the  lands  of  the  West  have  their  eyes  directed  upon  our  humility  ; 
by  them  we  are  considered  as  a  God  upon  earth."  No,  nor  did 
he  press  his  claims  as  did  his  other  successor,  Gregory  VII.,  some 
times  known  as  Hildebrand. 

Indeed,  Gregory  I.  in  his  desire  to  save  these  beautiful  captives 
offered  himself  to  Pope  Pelagius  as  a  missionary,  and  even  ob 
tained  his  consent  to  the  expedition.  But  we  are  informed  that 
the  people  surrounded  the  pontiff  on  his  way  to  St.  Peter's  and 
begged  him  to  recall  their  favorite.  So  that  Gregory  had  gone 
but  three  days'  journey  before  he  was  overtaken  and  brought  back, 
almost  forcibly,  to  his  monastic  home.  The  scheme  of  saving 
Britain  was  thus  deferred  but  not  given  up  ;  and  when  the  car 
dinal-deacon  became  Pope  it  was  again  revived,  and  with  success. 

In  the  year  590  Pelagius  II.  died  of  the  plague.  His  chair  was 
no  sooner  empty  than  Gregory  was  seen  to  be  the  choice  of  every 
one — senate  and  people  and  clergy.  He  was  accordingly  elected, 
and  then — for  such  was  the  feeling  in  those  days — he  resisted  the 
honor  with  all  his  might.  Like  Ambrose  he  fled  from  the  city  ; 
he  disguised  himself  ;  he  even  wandered  in  the  woods.  But  it 
was  one  of  the  old  principles  that  the  more  the  elect  refused  the 
more  their  calling  and  election  were  to  be  made  sure  to  them. 


GREGORIUS  MAGNUS  [540-604].  JOJ 

And  therefore,  he  was  found  at  last,  after  a  thorough  search,  and 
was  led,  literally  in  tears,  back  to  Rome.  He  had  begged  the 
Emperor  Maurice  not  to  confirm  this  appointment,  but  it  was  to 
no  effect  that  he  pleaded  for  release.  His  quiet,  peaceful  days 
were  over,  and  he  was  placed  at  the  helm  of  the  ship  of  the  Church 
to  steer  her,  and  the  commonwealth  which  was  her  freight,  through 
floods  of  barbarians  and  into  safer  seas.  I  am  using  his  own 
figure  :  "  I  am  so  beaten  by  the  waves  of  this  world, ' '  he  wrote, 
to  his  friend  Leander,  "  that  I  despair  of  being  able  to  guide  to 
port  this  rotten  old  vessel  with  which  God  has  charged  me.  I 
weep  when  I  recall  the  peaceful  shore  which  I  have  left  and  sigh 
in  perceiving  afar  what  I  cannot  now  attain." 

He  took  his  seat  in  the  midst  of  the  plague.  Eighty  persons  in 
the  processions  which  he  organized  at  seven  points  in  the  city  to 
pray  at  the  church  of  Santa  Maria-Maggiore  for  its  cessation,  died 
of  the  disease  during  their  very  progress.  Each  procession  met 
the  others  at  this  church  of  St.  Mary.  One  consisted  of  secular 
clergy  ;  another  of  abbots  and  monks  ;  a  third  of  abbesses  and 
nuns  ;  a  fourth  of  children  ;  a  fifth  of  laymen  ;  a  sixth  of  widows, 
and  a  seventh  of  matrons.  And  thus  arose  the  story  about  the 
angel  whom  Gregory  believed  that  he  saw  above  the  summit  of  the 
Mole  of  Hadrian,  and  who  there  stood  and  sheathed  his  sword. 
This  legend  gave  to  that  structure  the  name  of  the  Castello  di  San 
Angelo,  the  Castle  of  the  Holy  Angel. 

The  Lombards  were  Gregory's  first  care.  He  corresponded 
with  Theodolinda,  their  queen,  and  she  became  his  constant  friend 
and  his  advocate  with  the  king.  He  finally  obtained  from  King 
Agilulf  (her  second  husband)  a  special  truce  for  Rome  and  its 
neighboring  territory — a  most  delightful  relief  from  the  terrors  of 
the  last  thirty  years. 

Moreover,  he  directed  his  attention — as  Hormisdas  had  done 
before  him — to  the  struggle  which  was  never  at  rest  between  the 
Greek  and  Roman  churches.  The  Patriarch  of  Constantinople 
was  determined  to  assert  his  own  superior  claims  to  the  veneration 
of  the  faithful.  Hormisdas  had  avowed — but  never  vindicated — 
the  supremacy  of  the  Pope.  But  his  title  of  Papa  was  the  result 
of  mere  adulation  and  never  of  general  consent.  And  the  patri 
arch  happened  to  be  at  this  time  the  strong-willed  John  the  Faster 
— an  austere  and  pugnacious  man.  It  was  natural  therefore  that 


104  LATIN  HYMNS. 

he  should  claim  the  title  of  Universal  Bishop,  and  it  was  equally 
natural  that  Gregory,  without  demanding  anything  especial  for 
himself,  should  resist  John. 

In  this  controversy — and  in  those  others  where  his  works  bear 
testimony  to  his  literary  and  political  skill — we  see  Gregory  at  his 
best.  He  is  not  deficient  in  satire  ;  occasionally  he  indulges  in 
playful  humor  ;  but  he  never  forgets  principle  nor  flinches  from 
the  prosecution  of  his  cause.  It  cannot  be  said  of  him  that  he 
proposes  to  overrule  the  civil  authorities,  but  he  unquestionably 
tells  them  some  exceedingly  plain  truths.  To  the  Emperor  Mau 
rice  he  wrote  remonstrating  against  his  refusal  to  allow^a  soldier  to 
become  a  monk  :  "  To  this  by  me,  the  last  of  His  servants  and 
yours,  will  Christ  reply,  '  From  a  notary  I  made  thee  a  count  of 
the  body-guard  ;  from  a  count  of  the  body-guard  I  made  thee  a 
Caesar  ;  from  a  Caesar  I  made  thee  an  emperor  ;  nay,  more,  I 
have  made  thee  also  a  father  of  emperors  ;  I  have  committed  My 
priests  into  thy  hand  ;  and  dost  thou  withdraw  thy  soldiers 
from  My  service  ? '  Answer  thy  servant,  most  pious  lord,  I 
pray  thee,  and  say  how  thou  wilt  reply  to  thy  Lord  in  the  judg 
ment,  when  He  comes  and  thus  speaks. "  In  this  style  he  alter 
nately  appealed  and  remonstrated  in  his  dealing  with  the  powers 
that  be. 

To  John  the  Faster,  however,  he  administered  gall  and  honey 
— sometimes  separately  and  sometimes  mixed  together.  "  Your 
holy  Fraternity,"  he  says,  on  one  occasion,  "  has  replied  to  me, 
as  appears  from  the  signature  of  the  letter,  that  you  were  ignorant 
of  what  I  had  written  about.  At  which  reply  I  was  mightily  aston 
ished,  pondering  with  myself  in  silence,  if  what  you  say  is  true, 
what  can  be  worse  than  that  such  things  should  be  done  against 
God's  servants  and  he  who  is  over  them  should  be  ignorant?" 
Two  monks  had  in  fact  been  beaten  with  cudgels  for  heresy  and 
finally  resorted  to  Rome  in  defiance  of  John,  where  Gregory  par 
doned  and  restored  them.  The  Pope  continues  :  "  But,  if  your 
holiness  did  know  both  what  subject  I  wrote  about  and  what 
had  been  done,  either  against  John,  the  Presbyter,  or  against 
Athanasius,  monk  of  Isauria  and  a  presbyter,  and  have  written  to 
me,  '  I  know  not, '  what  can  I  reply  to  this,  since  Scripture  says, 
'  The  mouth  that  lies  slays  the  soul  '  ?  I  ask,  most  holy  brother, 
has  all  that  great  abstinence  of  yours  come  to  this,  that  you  would, 


GREGORIUS  MAGNUS  [540-604].  105 

by  denial,  conceal  from  your  brother  what  you  know  to  have  been 
done  ?" 

If  we  are,  in  spite  of  this  plainness,  disposed  to  be  severe  upon 
Gregory's  subservience  to  the  civil  power  of  the  Byzantine  Court, 
we  shall  find  an  instance  in  his  behavior  toward  Phocas.  This 
man  had  murdered  the  Emperor  Maurice,  gouty  and  helpless  as 
he  was  ;  and  had  previously  put  his  six  sons  to  death  before  his 
eyes.  The  good  old  emperor  died  like  a  hero,  repeating  the  words 
of  the  psalm,  "  Thou,  O  Lord,  art  just,  and  all  Thy  judgments  are 
right"  And  we  need  only  to  turn  to  Gregory's  writings  to  prove 
that  the  dead  man  was  his  friend  and  had  done  him  many  a  kindness. 

Notwithstanding  these  gracious  and  excellent  memories  of  the 
late  emperor,  the  Senate  and  people  had  hailed  the  advent  of 
Phocas  with  rapturous  delight  His  image  and  that  of  his  wife 
had  been  sent  to  Rome,  and  now,  with  the  uproar  rising  to  his 
windows,  Gregory  descended  to  the  common  level  of  detestable 
approbation,  and  caused  these  images  to  be  carried  into  the  oratory 
of  the  Lateran  palace.  ;<  This,"  says  one  of  his  biographers,  "  is 
the  only  stain  upon  the  life  of  Gregory.  We  do  not  attempt  either 
to  conceal  it  or  to  excuse  it"  True,  Maurice  had  been  a  vexa 
tious  old  man,  and  his  piety,  while  it  was  undeniable,  was  never 
theless  somewhat  acrid.  But  the  Bishop  of  Rome  should  have 
had  sufficient  strength  at  least  to  repress  any  tumultuous  joy  over 
an  act  of  murderous  ambition  and  hateful  selfishness.  This,  how 
ever,  is  the  weakness  of  many  a  prelate.  In  the  hour  of  trial  he 
bends  like  a  reed  to  the  blast,  when  we  should  expect  him  to  be  an 
oak,  and  trust  to  his  roots  to  grapple  him  safely  down  to  the  firm 
earth  of  principle.  This  great  blot,  conceded  by  all  candid  his 
torians,  remains  upon  his  memory. 

It  is  a  better  picture  for  us  to  view  when,  forsaking  his  trust  in 
the  mercy  of  barbarians  or  the  senility  of  despotic  power,  Gregory 
looked  outward  to  the  new  nations  and  sought  to  furnish  the 
Roman  Church  with  fresh  vigor  and  vital  help  from  this  unwasted 
source  of  strength.  He  corresponded  with  Childebeit  II.,  the 
unfortunate  young  King  of  Austrasia,  the  son  of  the  notorious  but 
intellectual  Brunehilda.  With  him  and  with  the  French  bishops 
he  labored  to  secure  the  destruction  of  "  simony/'  by  which  was 
meant  the  bargain  and  sale  of  ecclesiastical  positions.  He  also 
strove  to  prevent  laymen  from  being  elevated  to  the  episcopate, 


106  LATIN  HYMNS. 

though  he  should  have  remembered  that  Hilary  of  Poitiers  was  a 
notable  argument  against  his  fears. 

He  also  attended  to  the  religious  matters  of  Spain.  This  prov 
ince  had  ceased  to  be  Arian  in  587  with  the  accession  of  Recared  ; 
and  with  it  and  with  Istria  he  was  entirely  successful  in  his  methods 
of  unity  and  peace.  He  also  overcame  the  Donatist  party  in 
Africa,  who  had  for  years  been  ordaining  their  own  bishops  side 
by  side  with  the  regular  succession,  and  sometimes  in  actual  alter 
nation  with  them. 

To  crown  all,  he  organized  a  mission  to  the  distant  island  of  the 
fair-faced  Angli  in  596,  the  very  date  at  which  the  young  Childe- 
bert  perished  by  poison  in  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  his  age.  Then 
it  was  that  Augustine,  after  one  recoil  which  showed  that  he  was 
not  quite  up  to  the  mark  of  Gregory's  zeal,  finally  set  out  in  ear 
nest  with  forty  companions.  The  month  was  July.  The  mission 
was  almost  an  embassy.  It  went  through  the  intervening  king 
doms  endorsed  to  and  by  their  kings.  And  it  went  to  cheer  the 
little  feeble  remnant  of  the  Celtic  Christians  who  had  escaped  the 
Saxon  sword,  and  to  draw  from  the  Venerable  Bede  his  grateful 
tribute  to  the  man  who  had  already  well  deserved  the  title  of  great 
"  For,"  says  Bede,  "  if  Gregory  be  not  to  others  an  apostle,  he  is 
one  to  us,  for  the  seal  of  his  apostleship  are  we  in  the  Lord. ' ' 

When  we  remember,  also,  his  secular  services  in  saving  Rome 
from  sack  and  pillage,  we  cannot  but  perceive  that  he  was  laying, 
broad  and  deep,  the  foundations  of  that  temporal  authority  which  the 
Pope  of  Rome  was  soon  to  claim.  The  revenues  of  the  Roman 
bishop  were  growing  enormously.  He  had  in  Sicily  and  else 
where  his  agents  and  stewards  (defensores).  He  was  rapidly  aris 
ing  to  a  position  of  almost  independent  dignity.  His  deference  to 
kings  was  only  that  of  Christian  courtesy  and  love.  In  another 
man  some  of  this  might  have  been  disfigured  by  self-seeking  and 
moral  obliquity  of  purpose.  In  Gregory  we  find,  throughout  his 
career,  a  noble  integrity  which  was  certainly  austere  enough,  but 
which  was  in  the  main  pure  and  free  from  spot.  His  weakness 
was  that  of  overconciliation,  of  which  the  case  of  Phocas  is  a 
flagrant  example.  But  his  strength  was  in  his  just  judgment  and 
in  his  masterful  manipulation  of  the  materials  before  him. 

In  his  way,  too,  he  saved  Christian  art  as  well  as  Christian 
music.  He  condemns  the  Bishop  of  Marseilles  (Massilia)  for 


GREGORIUS  MAGNUS  [540-604].  107 

having  broken  some  statues  of  the  saints.  And  while  his  remon 
strance  may  perhaps  be  quoted  in  favor  of  image-worship,  it  cer 
tainly  cannot  be  quoted  for  that  blind  iconoclasm  which  would 
destroy  pagan  beauty  before  the  shrine  of  Christian  ugliness.  In 
the  association  of  his  name  with  the  Gregorian  chant  he  did  almost 
as  great  a  kindness  to  the  Church  as  did  Ambrose  when  he  brought 
to  her  services  the  Gjeek  hymns  of  the  East. 

He  was  a  sick  man  while  he  labored  at  these  matters  of  devotion 
and  duty.  Rheumatic  gout  attacked  him  and  crippled  his  joints. 
We  must  add  to  this  that  he  was  not  without  enemies,  and  not 
without  many  a  little  sting  and  thrust  of  vicious  tongues  and  pens. 
But  he  endured  to  the  end,  and  he  probably  was  sincere  when  he 
wrote  himself  down  as  Servus  servorum — though  there  have  been 
other  popes  since  his  day  to  follow  the  custom,  and  who  were  the 
"  servants  of  servants"  only  according  to  the  "  devil's  darling  sin, 
the  pride  that  apes  humility." 

Thirteen  years  he  held  the  keys  of  St.  Peter.  Busy  until  the 
last  moment,  he  wrote  or  dictated  the  correspondence  which  was 
required.  But  the  disease  which  was  upon  him  steadily  increased 
until,  on  March  I2th,  604,  he  was  released  from  suffering  and 
from  care.  His  portrait  shows  him  as  a  man  with  high  and 
wrinkled  forehead  ;  a  thin  beard  around  the  cheeks  and  chin  ; 
large,  deep-set  eyes  ;  straight  and  manly  nose,  and  a  singular  lock 
— almost  like  that  in  the  conventional  portrait  of  Father  Time — 
upon  his  brow.  There  are  a  great  many  doctors  of  divinity  who 
do  not  a  little  resemble  him  to-day.  It  is  a 'good  face,  but  a 
somewhat  stern  and  severe  one — of  the  sort  to  make  credible  the 
story  that  he  had  a  special  whip  for  his  choristers,  and  used  it 
when  it  was  needed. 

His  works  fill  several  volumes  in  the  Patrologia.      His  Morals, 
a  commentary   upon   Job,    is  the  very   best  of   his  books  ;  but 
he   was   probably    ignorant  of    both    Hebrew   and    Greek,    and 
hence  his  comments  on  Scripture  are  rather  more  homiletical  and 
practical  than  scholarly.     The  Pastoral  Rule  was  translated  into 
Saxon  by  King  Alfred,   who  admired  its  practical  wisdom,  and  | 
sent  a  copy  to  every  bishop  in  his  kingdom  ;  under  Charles  the  ' 
Great  also  it  was   much  esteemed  in  France.     His  Letters  are 
the  great  mine  of  information  upon  his  personal   opinions  and 
methods.      The  Dialogues  were  addressed   to  Thoodolinda,  and 


io8  LATIN  HYMNS. 

in  these  we  find  some  superstition  ;  and  indeed  a  fondness  for 
saints'  miracles  and  a  weakness  for  relics  were  characteristic  of  his 
otherwise  sensible  conduct.  He  wrote  but  nine  hymns  which  are 
authentically  traceable  to  his  pen.  They  are  the  Primo  dierum 
omnium  ;  the  Node  surgentes  vigilemus ;  the  Ecce  jam  nodis ; 
\\\QLucis  Creator  oplime  ;  the  Clarum  decus  jejunii  ;  the  Audibenigne 
Condilor  •  the  Magno  salutis  gaudto,  the  Jam  Chrislus  asfra  ascen- 
derat,  and  the  Rex  Christe,  fador  omnium.  With  a  lesser  degree 
of  probability  he  has  been  named  as  the  author  of  the  JElerne 
Rex  altissime  ;  the  En  more  dodi  mystico  ;  the  Lignum  crucis  mira- 
bile  ;  the  Noctis  tempusjam  praeterit ;  the  Nunc  tempus  acceptable  j 
and  the  Summi  largitor  praemii. 

Of  these  the  Rex  Christe,  /actor  omnium  delighted  Luther  so 
much  that  he  declared  it  in  his  impetuous  way  "  the  best  hymn 
ever  written" — an  opinion  which  he  would  find  few  nowadays  to 
endorse.  Gregory  disliked  pagan  literature  and  cultivated  the 
style  and  prosody  of  Ambrose.  It  is  possible,  therefore,  that  among 
the  Ambrosian  hymns  there  may  be  those  which  he  has  written 
and  which  are  credited  to  an  earlier  date.  But  the  cause  of  hym- 
nology  suffers  little  by  the  loss.  He  was  not  a  poet ;  but  as  the 
man  who  made  the  papacy  a  thing  and  not  a  name — as  the  man 
who  evangelized  Britain — and  as  the  man  who  gave  the  Gregorian 
tones  to  the  praises  of  the  Church,  he  will  be  held  in  kindly  and 
lasting  remembrance.  There  was  in  him  a  vein  of  peculiar  sar 
casm  as  well  as  of  deep  earnestness  and  of  great  sagacity,  yet  his 
literary  merits  are  not  to  be  weighed  against  those  words  and 
actions  written  viewlessly  on  the  air,  but  which  still  effectually 
vibrate  through  the  polity  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THE    VENERABLE    BEDE. 

IT  happened  with  Bede  as  with  some  other  Latin  hymn-writers 
— there  were  several  persons  who  had  the  same  name  as  himself. 
Hilary  and  Fortunatus  and  Notker  are  not  the  only  cases  of  con 
fusion,  for  there  were  certainly  three  Bedes,  and  they  were  not 
long  removed  from  each  other  in  point  of  time.  Beda  Major — 
the  elder  or  greater  Bede — was  a  presbyter  and  monk  of  Lindis- 
farne,  commemorated  by  his  more  celebrated  namesake.  Another 
was  a  holy  man  of  the  time  of  Charles  the  Great.  But  our  own 
Beda  or  Bedan  was  a  presbyter  and  monk  of  Jarrovv,  and  is  dis 
tinguished  from  the  rest  by  the  title  of  "Venerable,"  which  he 
shares  with  Peter  the  Venerable  of  Cluny. 

There  are  few  finer  figures  in  early  English  history.  Sprung 
from  pagan  and  utterly  illiterate  ancestry,  he  has  taken  his  place 
as  an  historian,  a  scholar,  a  natural  philosopher,  and  a  poet ;  and 
in  every  department  of  this  varied  knowledge  he  has  shown  his 
ability  and  industry.  English  literature  recalls  him  ;  English  his 
tory  praises  him  ;  English  scholarship  has  elaborately  edited  his 
writings,  and  English  patriotism  has  affectionately  honored  his 
memory. 

Cuthbert,  his  disciple,  who  wrote  his  life,  begins  his  narration  in 
the  following  words  : 

"  The  presbyter  Beda,  venerable  and  beloved  of  God,  was  born 
in  the  province  of  Northumbria,  in  the  territory  of  the  monasteries 
of  "the  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  which  is  in  Wearmouth  and  at 
Jarrow,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  the  six  hundred  and 
seventy- seventh,  which  is  the  second  year  of  the  solitary  life  of  St. 
Cuthbert. ' '  It  also  was  the  ninth  year  after  the  reduction  of  Saxon 
England  to  the  Roman  obedience  at  the  Synod  of  Whitby. 

Bede  himself  relates  that  when  he  was  seven  years  of  age  the 
care  of  his  education  was  committed  by  his  relatives  to  the  Abbot 


no  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Benedict  and  afterward  to  the  Abbot  Ceolfrid.  He  adds  that  from 
that  date  to  the  time  at  which  he  prepared  the  accompanying  list 
of  his  works  he  had  spent  his  days  in  the  same  place.  His  exist 
ence  was  passed  in  meditating  upon  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  and  he 
"  found  it  sweet,"  in  the  midst  of  his  observance  of  the  con 
ventual  discipline  and  daily  chanting  in  the  church,  "  either  to 
learn,  or  to  teach,  or  to  write."  The  choice  of  this  word  "  sweet  " 
(dulce)  is  significant,  for  no  man  could  more  carefully  have  mingled 
the  sweet  with  the  useful.  A  gentle  spirit  breathes  across  his  stu 
dious  pages,  as  over  the  rough  beards  of  the  yellow  grain  a  breeze 
moves  and  sways  them,  harsh  though  they  are,  in  graceful  waves. 
For  he  loved  learning  with  a  perfect  avidity.  His  works  reveal  his 
desire  to  accumulate  it — to  teach  it  again  in  plain  and  simple 
fashions — and  this  benevolent  desire  redeems  many  a  tedious 
discourse. 

This  life  of  his  was  devoid  of  personal  incident.  He  includes 
nothing  of  his  individual  history  in  the  little  notices  which  he 
makes  of  contemporary  events,  and  he  is  singularly  silent  even 
about  the  affairs  of  which  we  should  think  he  would  naturally 
speak.  The  light  which  we  get  upon  his  surroundings  and  cir 
cumstances  we  must,  therefore,  derive  from  other  sources,  but 
fortunately  these  are  at  hand.  We  know,  for  example,  that  Bene 
dict  Biscop,  who  founded  those  twin  monasteries  in  which  Bede 
dwelled  all  his  life,  was  himself  a  remarkable  person.  He  was  of 
noble  birth,  and  gave  up  place  and  ambition  in  the  court  of  the 
king  to  proceed  to  Rome,  there  to  J>e  trained  as  a  monk,  and  then 
to  return  and  found  Wearmouth  in  674  and  Jarrow  in  682.  To 
the  second  of  these  religious  establishments,  situated  upon  the 
Tyne,  Bede  was  transferred  under  Ceolfrid,  its  first  abbot,  and 
there  thenceforth  he  remained.  We  are  even  able  to  determine 
his  usual  food  as  a  school-boy,  for,  says  his  latest  biographer,  Rev. 
G.  F.  Browne,  "  we  have  a  colloquy  in  which  a  boy  is  made  to 
describe  his  daily  food  in  his  monastery.  He  had  worts  (i.e., 
kitchen  herbs),  fish,  cheese,  butter,  beans,  and  flesh  meats.  He 
drank  ale  when  he  could  get  it,  and  water  when  he  could  not  ; 
wine  was  too  dear."  There  is,  indeed,  in  these  Saxon  mon 
asteries  the  honest  and  hearty  food  which  belonged  to  their  age 
and  people.  Cedric  the  Saxon,  in  Sir  Walter  Scott's  novel  of 
Ivanhoe,  represents  very  fairly  the  popular  feeling  on  the  sub- 


THE   VENERABLE  BEDE.  Ill 

ject     Chaucer,  too,  can  be  quoted  upon  this  same  profusion  and 
the  generosity  of  the  time.     Of  the  Franklin  he  says  : 

"  It  snowed  in  his  house  of  meat  and  drink." 

With  such  a  patron  as  Biscop  the  monasteries  never  lacked  any 
good  thing.  He  brought  back  from  the  Continent  the  best  matters 
of  the  period — books,  pictures,  relics,  skilled  mechanics,  makers 
of  stained  glass,  and  choir-masters.  He  saw  before  him  a  land  in 
which  the  monk  was  to  be  the  conservator  and  promoter  of  learn 
ing.  And  in  carrying  out  this  purpose  he  did  more  than  plant  a 
monastery,  for  he  planted  and  reared  a  man.  We  have  the  word 
of  that  historian  whose  life  and  death  so  nearly  approach  those  of 
his  favorite  author,  when  we  declare  that  "  prose  took  its  first  shape 
in  the  Latin  history  of  Baeda. "  For  John  Henry  Greene  closed 
his  history  of  the  English  people  much  as  Bede  ended  his  own 
career,  weary  with  his  labor  and  yet  completing  what  he  had 
begun. 

That  which  lies  before  us  is  what  Greene  finely  styles  "  the 
quiet  grandeur  of  a  life  consecrated  to  knowledge."  It  was  no 
hoarding,  avaricious,  trilobite  life  to  be  fossilized  for  future  ages 
in  the  dead  strata  of  ecclesiastical  records.  Instead,  it  concerned 
itself  with  all  learning ;  and  though  it  perished  in  the  blackness  of 
a  general  ignorance,  it  is  a  source  of  light  and  force  to-day. 

But  let  us  return  to  Bede's  brief  points  of  change.  While  he 
was  still  a  boy,  the  monastery  was  desolated  by  one  of  the  great 
plagues  which  followed  the  Synod  of  Whitby,  and  every  monk 
who  knew  how  to  sing  in  the  choir,  except  the  Abbot  and  Bede, 
were  among  the  victims.  Unaided  these  two  struggled  with  the 
double  task  of  teaching  the  others  to  sing  and  keeping  up  the 
monastic  services  in  the  mean  time.  The  antiphons  they  had  to 
abandon,  but  they  struggled  through  the  Psalms,  often  weeping 
and  sobbing  as  they  sang.  At  nineteen — six  years  before  the 
usual  age — he  became  a  deacon  ;  at  thirty  he  was  a  priest ;  at 
fifty-nine  he  died.  He  acquired  his  Greek  through  the  agency  of 
Archbishop  Theodore,  who  had  come  from  Paul's  city  of  Tarsus 
in  Cilicia.  There  were  many  in  England  who  actually  spoke  in 
that  tongue,  owing  to  his  encouragement  of  it.  And  Bede  was 
no  mean  nor  small  factor  in  its  diffusion,  for  he  taught  at  Jarrow 
a  school  of  six  hundred  monks,  besides  an  uncounted  number  of 


112  LATIN  HYMNS. 

strangers  who  sought  his  instruction.  The  genealogy  of  school 
masters  is  truly  suggestive.  From  Bede  to  Alcuin,  from  Alcuin 
to  Rabanus  Maurus,  from  Rabanus  and  his  liberal  methods  on 
to  the  times  of  Abelard  and  the  free  inquiry  ;  so  the  torch  of 
learning  passes  down  the  generations.  And  when  we  remember 
Alcuin' s  commendation  of  Bede  and  Rabanus  Maurus's  instruc 
tion  by  Alcuin,  we  cannot  doubt  the  close  connection  of  these 
three  earliest  names.  Abelard  really  revived  the  bolder  and 
broader  style  which  had  been  opposed  at  first  in  the  Abbey  of 
Fulda. 

How  the  monk  ever  found  time  for  his  accomplishment  of 
study  and  writing  among  his  constant  labors— his  chanting 
and  his  teaching  and  his  frequent  preparation  of  homilies — it  is 
indeed  hard  to  discover.  But  he  wore  away  the  thin  scabbard  of 
the  body  by  the  keen  edge  of  his  sheathed  and  unsheathed  mind, 
until  he  died  before  his  days  were  truly  done.  How  often  must 
we  lament  the  incredible  monotony  and  weary  routine  of  these 
noble  lives  !  How  much  more,  we  say  to  ourselves,  they  could 
have  achieved  under  better  and  freer  conditions  !  But  perhaps 
not.  Perhaps  this  very  constriction  was  a  source  of  strength  ;  and 
perhaps  the  severe  stress  which  finally  broke  this  noble  student 
was,  after  all,  the  creator  of  his  best  powers  and  the  director  of 
his  finest  energy. 

Did  he  ever  visit  Rome  ?  Monks  from  the  Anglo-Saxon 
monasteries  went  on  pilgrimage  back  and  forth,  but  if  he  went 
with  them  neither  he  nor  they  have  mentioned  it.  Yet  there  is  a 
letter  of  Pope  Sergius  to  Ceolfrid  which  hints  at  such  a  journey, 
and  might  easily  furnish  a  ground  for  the  opinion.  On  the  whole, 
\ve  must  consider  Bede  as  an  unflickering  light,  burning  itself 
away  at  Jarrow,  but  illuminating  all  England  with  its  rays.  It  is 
not  because  of  deficiency  in  acquirement  that  we  deny  these  tradi 
tions.  He  knew  all  that  was  then  current  His  writings  are  an 
encyclopaedia  of  universal  learning.  Honorius  of  Autun  says 
of  him,  scripsit  infinita — he  wrote  incalculably  much.  Lanfranc 
cites  his  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  English  Nation.  Alcuin 
compares  him  to  the  Younger  Pliny,  and  quotes  him  with  great 
delight  as  "  Magister  Beda." 

The  hymns  ascribed  to  the  Venerable  Bede,  on  what  appears  to 
be  good  authority,  are  the  following  : 


THE  VENERABLE   BEDS.  113 

Adesto,  Chrisle,  vocibus, 

Apostolorum  gloriam, 

Emitte,  Chrisle,  Spirilum, 

Hymnum  canamus  gloriae, 

Hymnum  canenies  marlyrum, 

Illuxit  alma  seculis, 

Nunc  Andreae  sollemnia, 

Praecessor  almus  gratiae, 

Praecursor  altus  luminis, 

Primo  Deus  coeli  globum, 

Salve  tropaeum  gloriae. 
Also,  but  more  doubtfully  : 

Apostolorum  passio, 

Inter  florigeras. 
His  Ascension  hymn, 

Hymnum  canamus  gloriae, 

in  its  abbreviated  form,  spread  beyond  the  bounds  of  English 
use,  and  found  favor  with  the  Churches  of  the  Continent.  It  has 
simplicity  and  directness,  if  not  much  poetic  force  and  is  too 
prolix  for  Church  use  in  its  original  form.  Mrs.  Charles's  version, 
"  A  hymn  of  glory  let  us  sing,' '  is  well  known.  Next  to  it  stands 

his 

Hymnum  canentes  martyrum, 

known  to  English  readers  by  the  admirable  version  in  Hymns 
Ancient  and  Modern,  which  begins,  "  A  hymn  for  martyrs  sweetly 
sing."  A  third  notable  hymn  is  that  to  the  Cross  : 

Salve  iropaeum  gloriae , 

in  which  he  embodies  the  beautiful  legend  of  St.  Andrew's  death. 
The  notable  thing  about  all  Bede's  hymns  is  the  influence  which 
the  old  forms  of  Teutonic  poetry — the  alliterative  staff-rhyme — 
have  exerted  on  their  construction.  We  can  even  trace  an  ap 
proximation  to  alliteration  in  his  verses,  while  rhyme  is  rather  an 
accident  than  an  object.  The  verses  of  Beowulf  and  of  Caedmon 
were  in  his  mind  when  he  wrote.  That  he  could  use  the  classic 
metres  also,  we  see  from  his  poem  in  hexameters  on  the  life  of 
Cuthbert  of  Lindisfarne,  the  great  Scoto-Irish  saint,  whose  deeds 
still  filled  the  North  with  their  echoes. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

RABANUS   MAURUS,    AUTHOR    OF    THE    "  VENI,    CREATOR." 

NONE  of  the  great  Latin  hymns  is  more  regarded  than  the  Vent, 
Creator  Spiritus.  The  Dies  Irae  may  be  grander ;  the  Vent, 
Sancle  Spiriius  may  be  sweeter  ;  the  Ad perennis  vitae  fontem  may 
be  lovelier ;  the  Stabat  mater  may  be  more  pathetic,  but,  after  all, 
the  Veni,  Creator  holds  a  place  of  equal  honor  in  the  estimation 
of  the  Church.  The  Church  of  England,  while  rejecting  every 
other  Latin  hymn  from  her  services,  nevertheless  retained  this  in 
the  offices  for  the  ordering  of  priests  and  consecration  of  bishops. 
This  is  only  the  carrying  out,  indeed,  of  the  account  given  by  the 
famous  but  unknown  monk  of  Salzburg  who  rendered  so  many  of 
the  Latin  hymns  into  the  old  High-German  tongue.  He  says, 
"  Whoever  repeats  this  hymn  by  day  or  by  night,  him  shall  no 
enemy  visible  or  invisible  assail."  This  has  always  been  the  re 
pute  of  the  hymn,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  this  attended  it  on 
its  journey  down  the  ages  in  the  worship  of  the  Church. 

Its  authorship,  however,  has  been  less  carefully  preserved  than 
its  text,  which  is  notably  free  from  mutilation  and  obscurity.  It 
is  really  singular  to  find  a  hymn  which  has  been  so  universally 
employed,  and  which  has  escaped  in  such  a  marvellous  manner 
from  the  profane  meddling  of  prosaic  or  bigoted  revisers.  Its 
doxologic  final  stanza  is  one  which  is  not  often  to  be  found  else 
where — as  though  the  hymn  had  taken  and  maintained  a  place 
apart.  If  it  were  the  product  of  the  Ambrosian  age  this  would  not 
be  likely  to  have  occurred,  for  all  those  doxologies  are  formal  and 
interchangeable  to  a  marked  degree.  But  this  is  the  appropriate 
conclusion  of  a  unique  ascription  of  praise  to  the  third  person  of 
the  Trinity. 

Its  date  is  thus,  to  some  extent,  fixed  for  us.  We  cannot  refer 
it  to  the  days  of  Ambrose,  and,  since  it  is  found  in  nearly  all  the 
twelfth  to  fourteenth-century  breviaries,  we  are  unable  to  attribute 
it  to  the  period  of  the  Renaissance.  Its  very  verse  would  prevent 


KABANUS  MAURUS,  115 

this,  if  nothing  else  did.  The  word  spirilalis  is  a  barbarism — 
an  altogether  post-classical  expression.  The  true  usage  is  that  in 
which  the  genitive  case  is  employed,  thus  "spiritual  delight" 
would  be  animi  felicitas,  not  spiriialis  (or  spiritualis)  felicitas. 
Perpetim  is  also  a  word  which  purists  of  the  new  classic  revival 
would  avoid  if  they  could.  So,  too,  there  is  a  certain  amount  of 
stress  to  be  put  upon  the  scanning  of  Paraclitus — where  the  *'  is 
long,  though  Prudentius  in  the  fifth  century  and  Adam  of  St.  Victor 
in  the  twelfth  both  make  it  short.  It  has  therefore  been  said 
that  the  hymn  was  composed  by  a  person  who  was  skilled  in  the 
Greek  language.  This  altogether  depends  on  the  question  whether 
he  pronounced  the  word  by  accent  or  by  quantity.  But  still  it  is 
not  to  be  denied  that  the  prosody  of  the  poet  gives  us  reason  to 
think  that  he  did  pronounce  the  word  with  the  accent  on  the  77. 
If  this  be  so,  it  would  follow  that  he  was  a  man  of  rare  and  fine 
scholarship  in  comparison  with  the  contemporaneous  learning. 

Another  criticism  is  purely  theological  and  aids  in  fixing  the 
date  by  the  history  of  doctrine  itself.  At  the  Council  of  Toledo 
A.D.  589,  the  word  filioque  was  added  to  the  Creed  to  indi 
cate  the  faith  of  the  Church  in  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
from  both  the  Father  and  the  Son.  This  hymn  preserves  this 
point  of  the  orthodox  belief  with  such  care  that  there  can  be  no 
doubt  of  its  being  subsequent  in  time  to  the  date  of  that  council. 

In  coming  more  particularly  to  the  various  authors  who  have 
been  credited  with  its  composition,  it  may  be  well  to  attend  to 
each  claim  as  it  is  put  forward  in  some  sort  of  chronologic  order. 

George  Fabricius  of  Chemnitz  (1564)  was  ready  enough  to  as 
cribe  it  to  Ambrose  himself.  The  only  ground  for  this  conjecture  is 
the  structure  of  the  verse.  And  this  is  no  more  a  proof  of  author 
ship  than  that  a  hymn  written  in  what  we  call  "  long  metre"  must 
be,  because  of  that  fact  alone,  the  production  of  Isaac  Watts.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  plain  that  the  theological  allusion  and  the  dox- 
ology,  when  taken  together,  remove  the  hymn  far  enough  away 
from  the  days  of  the  great  Bishop  of  Milan. 

In  later  times  of  more  critical  scholarship  the  learned  and  accu 
rate  Professor  Hermann  Adalbert  Daniel  has  devoted  much  study  to 
the  hymn,  and  has  reached  the  conclusion  that  it  belongs  to  that 
king  whom  the  Germans  are  never  tired  of  praising — Charles  the 
Great  (Karl  der  Grosse),  by  the  French  called  Charlemagne, 


I 


Il6  LATIN  HYMXS. 

Led  by  his  illustrious  opinion  the  compilers  and  translators  have, 
without  another  question,  set  it  down  for  Charles's  work.  So  it 
has  gone  ;  the  minor  German  collators,  like  Konigsfeld  and  others, 
following  peacefully  in  the  rear  of  an  original  investigator.  This 
was  not  true,  however,  of  men  who  hunted  for  proof  on  their  own 
account,  as,  for  instance,  Mone  and  Wackernagel.  But  it  is  dis 
tinctly  true  of  the  English  scholars,  among  whom  Archbishop 
Trench  appears  to  carry  the  most  prevalent  influence.  They 
usually  assent  without  a  murmur  to  this  conjecture  of  Daniel 
indorsing  Thomasius,  who  was,  so  far  as  can  be  discovered,  the 
parent  of  the  opinion.  The  only  real  exception  is  the  Scotch 
hymnologist,  Dr.  H.  M.  MacGill,  who  doubts,  but  conforms  to 
the  opinion  which  is  in  vogue. 

The  grounds  of  this  general  confidence  in  Charles's  authorship 
it  may  be  proper  to  mention  here  in  brief.  We  know  it  is  said 
that  he  was  a  patron  of  learning,  a  friend  of  scholars,  and  a  devout 
believer  in  the  orthodox  theology.  In  the  year  809  he  took  an 
active  part  in  a  synod  at  Aquisgranum  which  affirmed  the  doctrine 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  proceeded  from  both  the  Father  and  the  Son. 
There  is,  furthermore,  a  statement,  quoted  by  Cardinal  Thomasius 
from  the  Ada  Sanctorum,  which  goes  in  the  direction  of  a  positive 
assertion.  In  the  life  of  the  Blessed  Notker  it  is  said  that  this 
hymn  was  composed  by  Carolus  Magnus. 

Now  it  has  never  been  established  that  Charles  was  even  a  ready 
writer  of  prose,  to  say  nothing  of  verse.  Berington,  following 
Einhard,  Charles's  secretary,  says  in  his  History  of  the  Literature  of 
the  Middle  Ages  (1814),  that  Charles  was  not  a  literary  man. 
"  He  seems  never  to  have  acquired  the  easy  practice  of  writing," 
is  his  strong  language  (p.  102).  The  hymn,  on  the  contrary, 
bears  the  evident  marks  of  accustomed  skill  and  practice  in  the  art 
of  verse  as  well  as  the  accuracy  of  a  mind  trained  in  theologic  dis 
criminations.  Moreover,  if  Maitland  (he  of  the  Dark  Ages)  is  to 
be  credited,  then  this  life  of  the  Blessed  Notker,  by  Ekkehard 
Junior,  is  full  of  errors,  of  ignorance,  and  wilful  design.  It  nat 
urally  celebrates  whatever  is  likely  to  add  to  the  credit  of  St.  Gall. 
Hence  we  need  not  be  astonished  when  it  tells  us  that  Notker 
composed  the  sequence,  Spirilus  Sancti  adsit  nobis  gratia,  and  sent 
it  to  Charles  the  Great,  receiving  in  return  his  composition  the  Veni, 
Creator  Spirtttis.  Nor  should  we  be  surprised  when  this  turns  out 


RABANUS  MAURUS.  llj 

(as  it  is  now  conceded  to  be)  a  mere  legend  without  any  historic 
basis.  When  Thomasius  follows  this  story,  and  Daniel  follows 
Thomasius,  and  Trench  follows  Daniel,  and  the  compilers  follow 
Trench,  it  really  appears  that  but  little  independent  judgment  has 
been  exercised  on  the  subject. 

Notker  died  in  912,  and  as  Charles  the  Great  was  dead  in  814, 
the  absurd  anachronism  of  the  Ekkehard  legend  is  clear  to  a 
glance.  It  should  perhaps  be  added  that  Trench,  although  allow 
ing  Charles  as  author,  believes  the  hymn  to  be  possibly  of  earlier 
date. 

Mone  takes  a  new  departure  when  he  gives  up  the  common 
opinion  and  announces  that  the  hymn  ought  to  be  assigned  to 
Gregory  the  Great  (540-606).  In  his  first  volume  he  taxes  Daniel 
with  having  been  altogether  too  prompt  to  agree  to  the  cardinal's 
dictum.  He  finds  no  reason  to  give  the  hymn  to  Charles,  but  he 
regards  the  classical  style  of  its  composition  to  be  very  fitting  to 
the  culture  and  well-known  powers  of  Gregory.  He  rejects  the 
doxology  Sit  laus,  etc.,  and  considers,  very  justly,  that  the  stanza 
Per  te  sciamus,  etc.,  is  the  true  conclusion  of  the  hymn. 

Wackernagel  agrees  with  Mone.  He  thinks  that  the  only  way 
in  which  Charles  could  have  secured  the  authorship  would  have 
been  by  getting  the  composition  effected  by  the  intervention  of 
Alcuin.  He  therefore  believes  that  Gregory  was  the  poet  of  the 
Vent,  Creator,  and  so  publishes  it  in  his  exhaustive  work  upon 
the  German  church  hymns.  Professor  March,  always  careful  and 
scholarly  in  his  assignments,  adopts  this  opinion  also. 

Against  the  Gregorian  authorship,  supported  as  it  is  by  such 
eminent  and  independent  scholars,  one  must  be  slow  to  contend. 
But  in  fact  there  is  no  great  similarity  between  the  hymn  before  us 
and  those  of  Gregory.  The  great  Pope  is  not  a  great  poet.  He 
has  not  written  one  hymn  which  has  really  endured.  The  Atidi 
benigne  Conditor  is  quoted  freely,  and  the  Rex  Christe,  factor  om 
nium  received  Luther's  highest  approbation.  But  these  and  other 
hymns  from  his  pen  are  imitations  of  Ambrose- -almost  slavish 
imitations.  The  lofty  and  grand  largeness  of  the  Veni,  Creator  is 
wanting  to  them  all.  The  argument,  good  as  it  may  seem,  is 
only  negative.  The  inference  is  that  the  hymn  was  written  by 
him — nothing  more.  On  the  same  grounds  we  might  as  well  go 
back  to  old  George  Fabricius  and  give  it  into  the  hands  of  Am- 


Il8  LATIN  HYMNS. 

brose  as  he  did.  The  truth  is  that  Gregory's  writings  do  not  con 
tain  it,  and  why  they  should  not,  if  he  were  its  actual  author,  it  is 
hard  for  any  one  to  understand. 

t  But  we  are  not  at  the  end  of  the  inquiry  yet  We  positively 
!  know  certain  facts.  These  are  :  That  the  earliest  mention  of  the 
hymn  is  in  the  Delaiio  S.  Marculfi,  A.D.  898  ;  that  it  is  found  in 
the  breviaries  of  the  twelfth  to  fourteenth  centuries  ;  that  its  author 
was  a  skilled  theologian  and  probably  a  master  of  the  Greek  lan 
guage  ;  that  he  was  a  poet  in  the  true  sense  and  therefore  quite 
certain  to  have  written  other  hymns  and  poems  ;  that  it  was  so 
soon  and  so  generally  adopted  as  to  prevent  any  corruption  of  its 
text ;  that  all  these  ascriptions  of  it  to  this  or  that  person  are  noth 
ing  but  tradition  ;  and,  finally,  that  the  hymn  has  such  spiritual 
worth  and  power  as  to  mark  it  for  the  production  of  a  devout  as 
well  as  scholarly  mind.  All  these  requirements  are  met  in 
Rabanus  Maurus,  Bishop  of  Mainz,  pupil  of  Alcuin,  and  laureate 
after  Alcuin  and  Theodulphus. 

There  was  a  certain  Christopher  Brower,  a  Jesuit  and  a  pro 
foundly  learned  scholar,  who  was  born  in  1559  at  Arnhem  in 
Gelderland.  In  the  year  1580  he  went  to  Cologne  in  pursuit  of  his 
studies.  Then  he  studied  philosophy  at  Trier,  and  eventually 
became  rector  of  the  college  at  Fulda.  Here  he  wrote  four  books 
upon  antiquarian  topics.  His  diligent,  exhaustive  style  can  be 
judged  by  the  fact  that  he  spent  thirty  years  upon  a  history  of 
Trier.  His  Antiquitaies  were  printed  in  1612,  but  in  1603  he 
had  edited  the  writings  of  Foitunatus,  and  this  book  was  reissued 
in  1617,  the  year  of  his  death,  by  Joannes  Volmar  at  Cologne. 
This  edition  has  an  appendix  of  150  pp.  4to.,  in  which  is  con 
tained  the  entire  series  of  hymns  and  other  poetical  compositions 
which  were  due  to  the  aforesaid  Bishop  of  Mainz,  Rabanus  Maurus. 
It  was  edited  from  a  very  old  MS.  of  undoubted  veracity,  and  it  con 
tains  the  Vent,  Creator  in  the  precise  text  which  we  now  employ. 
It  is  to  be  noticed  that  it  does  not  recognize  the  doxology  Sii  laus, 
etc.,  and  this  Mone  assures  us  was  composed  at  a  later  period  by 
Hincmar  of  Rheims,  and  is,  as  we  have  said,  unique.  But  it 
accents  Paraclitus  upon  the  second  a  and  not  upon  the  /. 

The  stanza  Da  gaudiorum,  etc  ,  was  rejected  some  time  ago  by 
the  best  scholars.  It  is  from  a  hymn  of  later  date.  And  we 
therefore  find  the  version  which  appears  in  Brewer's  editions  of  the 


RABANUS  MAURUS.  119 

poems  of  Rabanus  Maurus  to  be  consonant  with  the  most  intelli 
gent  criticism  of  the  text  of  the  Veni,  Creator. 

The  hymn  itself  we  can  assign  with  very  considerable  certainty 
to  the  author  in  whose  pages  it  again  is  apparent,  and  we  may 
believe  in  the  accuracy  and  scholarly  acuteness  of  the  Jesuit  anti 
quarian. 

It  will  not  be  amiss  if  we  set  our  reasons  in  order,  for  a  long- 
established  delusion  is  as  hard  to  overthrow  sometimes  as  the 
stubbornest  fact.  They  are  such  as  the  following  : 

1.  The   hymn   is  found  in  the  writings  of  Rabanus  Maurus, 
in   a   codex   which   Brower  calls  "  very  ancient   and   well   ap. 
proved. ' ' 

2.  It  is  the  precise  paraphrase  of  the  learned  bishop's  chapter 
on  the  Holy  Spirit     Thus  he  begins  the  chapter  with  an  asser 
tion  of  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit  from  both  the  Father 
and  the  Son.      He  then  calls  this  Spirit  donum  Dei,  and  several  times 
repeats  the  phrase.      He  argues  that  the  Spirit  is  coequal  and  co- 
eternal  God.      He  then  discusses  the  term  Paraclete,  and  proceeds 
to  speak  of  the  sepliformis  nature  of  His  power.     Next  follows  a 
most  significant  and  unusual  expression — namely,  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  digitus  Dei — the  finger  of  God.     And  the  consecution 
and  coincidence  of  thought  is  still  further  increased  by  an  allusion 
to  the  grace  which  bestowed  the  gift  of  tongues.     He  then  speaks 
of  the  Spirit  as  fire — which  accords  with  the  word  accende — and 
then  he  explains  the  simile  of  water,  which  corresponds  with  the 
word  infunde  and  with  the  previous  phrase  fons  vrvus.      He  also 
quotes  from  the  Gospel  of  John  to  show  that  this  "  living  water" 
means  no  more  nor  less  than  the  Holy  Spirit.     These  coincidences 
are  doubly  remarkable,  for  they  not  only  exhibit  the  same  ideas — 
some  of  which,  by  the  way,  are  quite  uncommon — but  they  also  set 
them  forth  in  the  precise  order  in  which  the  good  bishop  employs 
them  in  his  hymn.      It  is  as  if,  being  aroused  and  animated  by 
his  great  and  noble  theme,  he  had  turned  to  verse  as  an  appro 
priate  medium  of  lofty  praise  and  had  sung  from  his  heart  this 
immortal  hymn. 

3.  To  these  reasons  we  may  add  a  thirdt — hat  the  internal  struc 
ture  of  the  hymn  shows  its  author  to  have  been  a  person  of  theo 
logical  soundness,  spiritual  insight,  scriptural  knowledge,  genuine 
scholarship,  and  a  natural  poetical  capacity.     These  facts  again 


120  LATIN  HYMNS. 

agree  with  what  we  know  to  have  been  the  talents  and  learning  of 
Rabanus  Maurus. 

4.  If  Gregory  had  written  this  hymn  it  would  have  appeared  at 
an  earlier  date  and  would  have  been  undoubtedly  attributed  to  its 
illustrious  author  ;    whereas  it  is  not  in  his  carefully  compiled 
writings  nor  is  it  accredited  to  him  by  Thomasius  or  any  hym- 
nologist  before  the  time  of  Mone  and  Wackernagel. 

5.  Charles  the  Great  had  not  the  learning,  and  both  he  and  his 
grandson,  Charles  ' '  the  Bald, ' '  are  named  on  the-  strength  of  a 
long- exploded  and  always  anachronistic  tradition. 

6.  Ambrose  is  out  of  the  question  by  the  theological  limitation 
of  the  stanza  Per  te  sciamus,  etc. 

7.  Finally,  we  have  the  right  to  believe  that  a  man  whose  other 
hymns  have  been  so  extensively,  though  anonymously,  introduced 
into  the  worship  of  the  Church,  was  entirely  competent  to  frame 
this  present  hymn. 

This  last  point  is  worthy  of  more  than  this  terse  remark. 
Rabanus  composed  the  hymns,  Adest  dies  sanctus  Dei,  Festuni 
nunc  celebre,  Fit  poria  Christi  pervia,  Tibi  Christe  splendor  Patris, 
Chrisle  Redemptor  omnium,  and  Jesu  Salvalor  saeculi,  all  of  which 
display  great  powers  of  sacred  poetry  and  two  of  which  are  beyond 
any  possible  doubt  his  authentic  productions.  Of  the  twenty-nine 
hymns  found  in  Brewer's  codex  there  are  two  which  have  been 
credited  to  Ambrose  beside  the  Veni,  Creator,  and  there  are  seven 
which  are  classed  by  Daniel  and  Fabricius  as  belonging  between 
the  tenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  and  to  unknown  authorship. 
The  codex  adds  to  our  previous  list  eight  entirely  new  poems,  and 
two  others  which  raise  a  question  on  which  we  may  pause  for  a 
moment  before  conceding  the  current  opinion. 

The  first  of  these  hymns  is  the  Altus  prosaior,  of  which  the 
codex  gives  us  a  much  fuller  and  longer  version.  It  is  called 
ordinarily  the  "  Hymn  of  St.  Columba/'  and  was  reprinted  by  Dr. 
Todd  from  the  Liber  Hymnorum  of  old  Irish  hymns  in  the  library 
of  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  Our  present  line  of  inquiry  would 
lead  us  to  assign  it  to  Rabanus,  and  thus  do  away  with  the  mere 
conjecture  which  makes  Columba  its  author. 

The  second  hymn  is  that  usually  credited  to  Elpis,  the  wife  of 
Boethius.  But  the  designation  of  this  hymn  is  as  fanciful  as  the 
other.  Brower  in  his  loyalty  to  the  Church  will  not  impugn  the 


RABANUS  MAURUS.  121 

authorship  which  is  commonly  received,  but  he  is  constrained  to 
admit  that  a  stanza  is  appended  which  the  popular  version  entirely 
omits.  It  seems  far  more  reasonable  to  think  that  Rabanus  com 
posed  the  whole  hymn  than  that  he  only  added  a  few  verses  at  the 
end.  What  Rabanus  Maurus  really  did  was  to  construct  an 
hymnodia  which  had  an  appropriate  sacred  song  for  every  season. 
He  was  a  poet  and  he  lauded  the  verses  of  Hilary  and  of  Ambrose. 
Had  he  intended  to  make  selections  he  would  not  have  omitted 
them.  But  he  has  certainly  put  his  own  compositions  into  this 
list.  Therefore  it  follows  that  he  may  well  have  included  more 
than  was  at  first  supposed.  And  when  it  is  plain — for  the  index 
of  hymns  makes  it  plain— that  not  one  single  hymn  of  the  twenty- 
nine  is  the  undoubted  and  absolute  property  of  any  other  poet, 
we  are  safe  in  assuming  that  they  all  are  what  the  codex  declares 
them  to  be — the  actual  productions  of  the  Bishop  Rabanus. 

The  hymn  Fit  porta  Christi  pervia  occurs  in  the  midst  of  the 
Ambrosian  A  solis  or/us  cardine,  et  usque,  and  was  there  inserted 
by  the  Benedictines  of  St.  Maur.  Daniel  says  it  is  an  entire  hymn 
as  it  stands.  And  so  say  we  who  find  it  standing  alone  in  the 
codex  of  Brower. 

At  once,  then,  Rabanus  Maurus  ascends  from  comparative  ob 
scurity  to  a  front  rank  among  hymn-writers.  And  we  are  ready 
for  all  the  light  upon  his  personal  history  which  we  can  obtain. 

VENI,   CREATOR   SPIRITUS. 

Veni,  Creator  Spirittis,  O  Holy  Ghost,  Creator,  come  ! 

Mentes  tuorum  visita,  Thy  people's  minds  pervade  ; 

Itnple  superna  gratia  And  fill  with  thy  supernal  grace 

Quae  tu  creasti  pectora.  The  souls  which  thou  hast  made. 

Qui  Paraclitus  diceris,  Thou  who  art  called  the  Paraclete, 
Donum  Dei  altissimi,  The  gift  of  God  most  high  ; 

Fons  vivus,  ignis,  charitas,  Thou  living  fount,  and  fire,  and  love, 
Et  spiritalis  unctio.  Our  spirit's  pure  ally  ; 

Tu  septiformis  munere,  Thou  sevenfold  Giver  of  all  good  ; 
Dextrae  Dei  tu  digitus,  Finger  of  God's  right  hand  ; 

Tu  rite  promissum  Patris,  Thou  promise  of  the  Father,  rich 
Sermone  ditans  guUtira.  In  words  for  every  land  ; 

Accende  lumen  sensibus,  Kindle  our  senses  to  a  flame, 

Infunde  amorem  cordibus,  And  fill  our  hearts  with  love, 

Infirma  nostri  corporis,  And  through  our  bodies'  weakness,  still 

Virtute  firmans  perpetim.  Pour  valor  from  above  ! 


122  LA  7 IN  HYMNS. 

Hostem  repellas  longius,  Drive  farther  off  our  enemy, 
Pacemque  clones  protinus,  And  straightway  give  us  peace  ; 

Ductore  sic  te  praevio  That,  with  thyself  as  such  a  guide, 
Vitemus  omne  noxium.  We  may  from  evil  cease. 

Per  te  sciamus  da  Patrem  Through  thee  may  we  the  Father  know, 
Noscamus  atque  Filium,  And  thus  confess  the  Son  ; 

Te  utriusque  Spiritum,  For  thee  (from  both  the  Holy  Ghost), 
Credamus  omni  tempore.  We  praise  while  time  shall  run. 

Rabanus  Maurus,  teacher  and  Abbot  of  Fulda  and  Archbishop 
of  Mayence  (Mainz),  was  commonly  called  the  "  foremost  Ger 
man  of  his  time."  Though  the  centuries  have  somewhat  obscured 
the  lustre  of  his  renown,  they  have  not  deprived  him  of  his  place 
in  history,  nor  have  they  dissociated  his  name  from  that  of  his  in 
structor,  prototype,  and  model,  the  great  pedagogue  Alcuin. 

Of  the  birthplace  of  Rabanus  we  have  no  certain  knowledge. 
Some  have  said  that  he  was  Scotch  or  English,  others  that  he  was 
French  ;  but  the  more  reliable  authorities  are  convinced  that  he 
was  a  German,  born  either  at  Fulda  or  Mainz.  The  epitaph 
written  by  himself  affords  probably  the  solution  of  the  question. 
It  was  composed  at  Mainz  while  its  author  was  archbishop,  and 
contains  these  words  : 

"  Urbe  quidem  hac  genitus  sum,  ac  sacro  fonte  renatus, 
In  Fulda  post  haec  dogma  sacrum  didici." 

That  is,  he  was  born  at  the  place  where  he  was  writing  these 
verses — most  likely  Mainz — and  there  he  was  baptized.  Afterward 
he  was  educated  in  Fulda.  An  additional  reason  for  this  belief  is 
that  his  father  was  of  a  family  known  in  the  records  of  Mainz. 

Trithemius  says  that  Rabanus  was  born  in  788  quarto  nonas 
Februarii,  the  second  of  February.  Mabillon  adds,  "  I  do  not 
know  whence  he  got  the  day  ;  the  year  is  probably  pretty  close.  " 
But  the  year  itself,  on  the  strength  of  internal  evidence  found  in 
the  man's  writings  and  in  the  monastic  rules  regarding  the  holding 
of  office  before  the  attainment  of  a  fixed  age,  Mabillon  places  at 
776.  This  extension  of  twelve  years  is  a  very  important  affair 
since  it  makes  Rabanus  a  monk  of  thirty-three  at  the  date  of  the 
Council  of  Aquisgranum  (Aix-Ia-Chapelle  or  Aachen),  called  by 
Charlemagne  to  reannunciate  the  doctrine  of  the  procession  of  the 
Holy  Spirit. 

The  name  of  Rabanus' s  father  was  Ruthard  and  his  mother  was 


RABANUS  MAURUS.  123 

christened  Aldegunde.  "  She  was  a  woman  of  the  most  honest 
conversation,"  as  Trithemius  declares,  the  fit  helpmeet  of  a  man 
"  rich  and  powerful,  who  for  a  longtime  served  in  the  wars  under 
the  Frank  princes."  There  was  a  brother,  doubtless  an  elder 
brother,  called  Tutin,  a  person  "  noble  among  the  first,"  and 
perhaps  the  father  of  a  nephew,  Gundram,  whom  Rabanus  men 
tions  as  the  royal  chaplain  of  Lewis  of  Germany. 

The  lad  Raban — "  the  raven"  —took  on  his  dark  garments  at 
nine  years  of  age  and  went  to  be  a  little  shaveling  monk  at  Fulda. 
There  he  continued,  patiently  toiling  on  at  his  studies  according 
to  the  methods  of  a  benighted  time,  and  it  is  plain  that  he  pro 
gressed  so  well  as  to  get  the  favor  of  his  abbot,  Ratgar.  Since 
Ratgar  took  office  in  80 1  or  802,  and  Alcuin  died  in  May,  804,  it 
must  have  been  at  or  about  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  his  age  that 
Rabanus  was  directed  to  put  himself  under  the  care  of  Alcuin. 
A  record  which  has  been  preserved  shows  that  in  80 1  our  poet  had 
been  made  a  deacon  at  Fulda,  and  it  is  natural  for  us  to  look 
upon  this  journey  to  the  monastic  school  of  St.  Martin  at  Tours 
as  an  honor  given  to  one  who  had  already  earned  some  distinction 
in  scholarship. 

Be  this  as  it  may  it  is  certain  that  nearly  the  latest  work  of 
Alcuin's  life  was  the  preparation  of  the  successor  to  his  own  ideas 
who  should  hold  high  the  torch  of  knowledge  to  his  land  and  gen 
eration.  To  him — though  the  old  eyes  at  Tours  should  not  see 
it — was  to  succeed  Walafrid  Strabo,  and  to  Walafrid  Strabo  were 
to  be  added  the  scholars  of  St.  Gall,  and  notably  the  marvellous 
cripple  Herman  of  Reichenau.  Ratgar  now  was  busy  building  a 
great  church,  and  architectural  notions  befogged  his  brain.  But 
he  had  built  better  than  he  was  aware  when  he  sent  off  Rabanus 
and  Hatto  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  the  man  who  had  brought  the  system 
of  Bede  the  Venerable  into  Gaul,  and  who  was  to  commit  his  own 
enthusiasm  for  learning  to  a  greater  scholar  than  Paul  Winfrid,  the 
Deacon. 

This  Hatto  was  not  the  infamous  bishop  of  the  Rat  Tower 
whom  Southey  has  immortalized  in  blood-curdling  verses.  That 
notorious  prelate  was  indeed  Abbot  of  Fulda  and  Bishop  of  Mainz, 
but  he  died  in  969  or  970,  and  the  swarming  rats  which  devoured 
him  for  his  avarice  in  keeping  the  corn  from  the  poor  owe  their 
original  celebrity  to  those  curious  volumes,  the  Centuries  of  Magde- 


124  LATIN  HYMNS. 

lurg.  So  far  as  we  can  discover,  the  Hatto  who  accompanied 
Rabanus  became  neither  famous  nor  infamous,  unless  it  be  some 
thing  to  have  obtained  the  abbacy  of  Fulda  when  his  friend  laid  it 
down. 

In  804  Rabanus  returned  to  Fulda.  He  had  profited  by  the 
instruction  he  had  received,  and  was  now  the  fittest  person  to  be 
put  at  the  head  of  the  school  in  the  cloisters.  To  his  original 
name  the  old  teacher  had  affixed  the  honorable  title  Maurus,  and 
to  this  again  Rabanus  himself  added  the  descriptive  adjective  Mag- 
nentius.  So  that  Rabanus  Maurus  Magnentius  is  the  full  appel 
lation  of  the  man  henceforth  to  be  styled  with  the  largest  truth, 
Primus  Germanics  preceptor.  This  giving  of  names  was  one  of  the 
features  of  those  times.  Alcuin  was  called  Albinus  Flaccus,  Paul 
Winfrid  was  known  as  Bonifacius,  and  Ratbert,  the  advocate  of 
transubstanliation,  became  Paschasius.  Besides  this,  the  spelling 
of  proper  names  was  very  much  at  sea.  Thus,  to  the  R  of 
Rabanus  there  was  prefixed  or  suffixed  a  Greek  "  rough  breath 
ing,  "  making  it  HRabanus  or  Rhabanus,  precisely  as  we  some 
times  find  HLudovicus  or  HLotharius. 

It  is  at  this  time  that  the  true  skill  and  ability  of  Rabanus  ap 
pear  before  us.  He  was  the  first  person  to  establish  a  school  in 
Germany  which  had  in  it  the  promise  of  modern  education.  He 
allowed  pupils  to  attend  and  be  trained  in  the  cloisters  who  had 
no  vocation  for  a  monastic  life.  In  point  of  fact  he  was  the  real 
founder  of  the  school  system  of  Germany,  and  his  fellow-country 
men  have  not  been  slow  to  accredit  him  with  the  achievement. 
His  life  and  accomplishments  have  employed  the  pens  of  Buddeus, 
Schwarz,  Dahl,  Bach,  Kunstmann,  Spengler,  Kohler,  Richter,  and 
other  writers  on  the  history  of  paedagogik.*  It  is  beyond  debate 
that  the  school  at  Fulda  was  a  most  remarkable  place. 

Rabanus  was  not  the  only  teacher  in  the  school.  He  was 
assisted  by  his  faithful  friend  Samuel  of  Worms,  a  fellow  pupil 
under  Alcuin.  Together  these  men  developed  and  enlarged  the 
minds  of  many  of  the  future  nobles  of  Germany,  and  laid  in  Bible 
study  and  in  the  advanced  opinions  which  they  announced,  the 


*  Recently  there  has  been  a  most  admirable  summary  of  these  matters 
prepared  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  M.  Jackson  for  the  fourteenth  chapter  of 
Dr.  Philip  Schaff's  History  of  the  Christian  Church. 


RABANUS  MAURUS.  125 

foundations  for  a  nation  the  most  scholarly  of  any  on  the  earth. 
In  these  classes  were  to  be  seen  such  disciples  of  the  new  learning 
as  Walafrid  Strabo,  Servatus  Lupus,  Einhard  (who  subsequently 
sent  thither  his  son  Wussin),  and  Rudolf  who  wrote  the  life  of  his 
preceptor. 

Leaving  the  manner  of  that  ancient  school  life  for  the  present, 
we  are  struck  with  astonishment  at  the  broad  and  liberal  tone  of 
the  instruction.  Rabanus  followed  Bede  in  providing  an  encyclo 
paedia  of  human  knowledge  for  his  pupils.  He  entitled  it  De 
Unwersis  and  based  it  on  the  previous  work  of  Isidore  of  Seville. 
Additionally  he  abridged  the  grammar  of  Priscian,  a  treatise  which 
furnished,  even  as  late  as  the  days  of  Richard  Braythwaite  and  his 
Drunken  Barnabee,  the  suggestive  line, 

"  Fregi  frontem  Prisciani. " 

"  I've  broke  Priscian's  forehead  mainly." 

He  also  furnished  a  text-book  in  arithmetic,  drawn  mostly  from 
Boethius,  and  an  etymology  in  which  he  depends  to  some  extent 
on  Isidore.  He  utilized  Bede  for  chronology,  and  Gregory  for 
ecclesiastical  forms,  and  Augustine  for  doctrine,  and  Cassiodorus 
for  commentary  and  exegesis. 

Moreover,  he  was  free  from  much  of  the  superstition  of  his  age.  / 
He  objected  to  giving  the  liver  of  a  mad  dog  to  one  who  had  :' 
been  bitten  by  it — that  being  then  held  a  perfect  cure.  His  letters  ' 
show  an  independent  and  almost  an  audacious  mind.  In  all  re 
ligious  discussion  his  motto  was,  "  When  the  cause  is  Christ's,  the 
opposition  of  the  bad  counts  for  naught."  In  statecraft — for 
ecclesiastics  were  chief  movers  in  these  affairs — he  held  with  Ludwig 
the  Pious.  He  wrote  a  great  deal  in  the  way  of  Scripture  com 
mentary,  and  his  intellect  was  of  a  mystical  order.  He  delighted 
in  allegories,  in  enshrining  the  bones  of  saints  and  confessors,  and 
in  making  the  most  marvellous  and  intricate  anagrams  and  arrange 
ments  of  verses  and  letters  upon  the  subject  of  the  Holy  Cross, 
whose  praise  he  has  elaborately  set  forth.  Wimpfeling  may 
well  style  this  production  a  "  wonderful  and  highly  elaborate 
work."  It  dates  from  the  year  815,  and  no  modern  reader  can 
view  it  without  dismay  at  its  enormous  expenditure  of  labor. 

A  man  like  this  in  the  teacher's  seat  of  Fulda  would  not  be  long 


126  LATIN  HYMNS. 

in  obscuring  by  his  manifest  talents  the  feebler  light  of  his  abbot 
So  Ratgar  found,  and  devoted  himself  and  his  monks  with  mistimed 
zeal  to  the  erection  of  a  great  addition  to  the  cloister  church.  He 
grudged  the  time  given  to  the  studies  of  the  school.  He  would 
much  prefer  to  have  had  the  full  control  of  all  that  was  passing  in 
the  cloisters,  but  this  was  plainly  impossible.  So  he  devised  a 
very  satisfactory  way  of  interrupting  the  success  of  Rabanus.  He 
took  the  books  from  the  scholars  and  he  even  forbade  them  to  the 
teacher.  This  was  the  cause  of  some  pathetic  verses  in  which 
Rabanus  sets  forth  his  petition  for  their  return.  "  Let  thy  clem 
ency,"  he  exclaims,  "  concede  me  books,  for  the  poverty  of  knowl 
edge  suffocates  me."  One  grates  his  teeth  in  reading  farther  on 
the  words,  ' '  Whether  you  do  this  or  not,  yet  let  the  divine  power 
of  the  Omnipotent  always  afford  you  all  good  things  and  complete 
a  good  fight  with  an  honest  course,  that  you  may  ever  be  with 
Christ  in  the  height  of  heaven." 

Ratgar  was  a  tyrant ;  there  was  no  doubt  of  that.  The  only 
question  was  how  long  this  tyranny  would  survive  the  loss  of 
students  and  the  defection  of  the  monks,  who  had  already  begun 
to  complain  and  resist.  There  was  not  any  hope,  however,  that 
this  line  of  conduct  would  be  materially  altered,  and  here  again  we 
have  verses  of  Rabanus,  lamenting  in  moving  terms  the  loss  of 
scholars  and  the  demoralization  of  the  school.  It  is  not  at  all 
unlikely  that  the  praises  of  the  Holy  Cross  were  the  solace  of  the 
poor  pedagogue  who  had  lost  his  favorite  volumes.  He  could 
scarcely  otherwise  have  found  the  leisure  for  this  elegant  trifling. 

The  poem  just  mentioned  is  imperfect.  It  breaks  off  abruptly 
and  the  conclusion  is  missing.  What  it  may  have  had  to  do  with 
the  outcome  of  Ratgar' s  tyranny  we  therefore  cannot  say,  but  the 
times  upon  which  the  monastery  had  fallen  were  very  grievous  ; 
and  in  807  there  was  a  pestilence  which  depleted  the  list  of  monks 
from  four  hundred  down  to  one  hundred  and  fifty,  and  these 
must,  of  course,  have  been  more  pressed  by  the  manual  labor  than 
ever.  They  toiled  as  did  Israel  in  bondage,  and  yet  the  end  had 
not  come.  It  was  a  period  of  the  worst  sort  of  misrule,  paralleled 
later  at  Cluny  and  not  unknown  in  other  conventual  establish 
ments.  In  814  Rabanus  was  ordained  priest  on  December  23d, 
and,  as  is  supposed,  after  his  withdrawal  for  a  time  from  the  mon 
astery  to  the  refuge  offered  by  a  friend's  house.  From  a  passage 


RABANUS  MAURUS.  127 

in  one  of  his  commentaries  it  has  been  inferred  that  he  used  this 
suspense  of  his  labors  to  make  a  journey  to  Palestine. 

In  811  there  was,  says  Dahl,  a  great  confusion  (Verwirrung)  in 
the  cloister.  A  libel  was  sent  to  Charles  the  Great  criticising  the 
conduct  of  Ratgar — "  libel  "  being  used  in  its  old  sense  of  "  little 
treatise. "  Nothing,  as  it  would  seem,  was  done  about  this,  although 
the  ordination  of  Rabanus  may  have  been  a  link  in  the  chain. 

But  when  Ludwig  the  Pious  (Ludwig  der  Fromme)  came  to  the 
kingdom  Ratgar  was  summarily  deposed,  and  Egil,  a  kindly, 
book-loving  man,  created  abbot  in  his  stead.  This  occurred  in 
817,  three  years  after  Ludwig  began  to  reign.  All  difficulties  were 
now  over.  The  school  was  reopened  with  greater  prosperity  than 
before.  The  library  was  increased.  The  secular  scholars  were 
taught  outside  the  walls,  for  the  number  of  students  surpassed  the 
accommodation.  And,  in  a  word,  Ratgar  had  merely  held  back 
a  constantly  augmenting  torrent  which  now  poured  itself  in  in  an 
intrepid  tide.  When  Martin  Luther,  centuries  later,  cries  out  for 
intelligent  instruction  and  for  the  extension  of  the  school  system 
of  Germany,  he  is  but  repeating  the  cry  which  swelled  in  the  ears 
of  Ratgar  and  drove  him  before  it  with  execration  from  his  abbacy. 

In  822,  when  Egil  died,  by  common  consent  Rabanus  was  in 
vested  with  the  dignity  of  abbot.  For  a  time  things  went  smoothly 
enough,  and  such  scholars  as  Walafrid  Strabo,  Servatus  Lupus, 
and  Otfried  of  Weissenberg  were  the  glory  of  the  Fulda  schools. 
But  the  pendulum  swung  too  far  in  the  rebound  from  Ratgar's 
illiterate  policy.  The  monks  were  kept  at  writing  and  teaching 
with  too  little  discrimination  as  to  their  tastes  and  capacities. 
They  began  to  grumble  that  the  material  interests  of  the  monastery 
were  neglected,  and  that  Fulda  might  be  growing  rich  in  books 
and  in  bookworms,  but  was  in  danger  of  becoming  poor  in  every 
thing  else.  The  disaffection  found  a  support  in  Archbishop  Otgar 
of  Mainz,  a  busy  political  prelate,  who  seems  to  have  become  jeal 
ous  of  the  prominence  of  Rabanus.  As  a  supporter  of  Lothar  and 
of  the  policy  of  imperial  unity,  he  was  in  politics  on  the  other  side 
from  Rabanus.  Our  abbot  was  a  Nationalist  and  a  Home  Ruler. 
He  wished  to  foster  the  cultivation  of  the  German  tongue  and  to 
maintain  the  distinctness  of  the  German  nation.  He  had  stood 
by  poor,  weak  Ludwig  the  Pious,  whose  sorrow  it  was  to  have  suc 
ceeded  to  the  work  of  Charles  the  Great.  He  addressed  to  him  a 


128  LATIN  IIYM.VS. 

letter  of  consolation  in  his  troubles,  and  wrote  a  treatise  :  De  Rever- 
entia  Filiorum  erga  Pa/res  et  Subditorum  erga  Reges,  to  recall  his 
unfilial  children  to  a  sense  of  their  duty.  In  Ludwig  the  German 
he  recognized  the  most  dutiful  of  the  three.  So  when  the  Emperor 
Ludwig  died  in  840,  he  supported  the  younger  Ludwig  in  the  de 
mand  for  virtual  German  independence  against  the  high-handed 
imperialism  of  his  elder  brother  Lothar.  He  thus  shared  in  the 
triumph  of  the  victory  at  Fontanetum,  followed  by  the  Compact 
of  Verdun  (843),  which  practically  put  an  end  to  Karling  imperial 
ism,  and  secured  the  national  independence  of  France  and  Ger 
many.  But  in  the  mean  time  Otgar  enabled  the  illiterate  party  at 
Fulda  to  drive  Rabanus  into  exile,  and  when  he  came  back  he 
found  the  brethren  had  chosen  another  abbot,  Hatto,  in  his  stead. 
Waiving  his  own  rights,  and  laying  aside  all  grudges,  he  betook 
himself  to  his  books  in  a  priory  or  something  of  the  sort  on  Mount 
St.  Peter,  not  far  off,  and  resumed  the  work  of  teaching.  Here  he 
is  thought  to  have  composed  his  great  philosophical  treatise  on  the 
All,  which  marks  a  distinct  advance  in  the  development  of  med 
iaeval  metaphysics  and  logic.  Indeed,  there  was  but  one  thinker 
of  the  ninth  century  who  surpassed  him  in  penetration  and  learn 
ing — the  wonderful  Irish  monk,  John  Scotus  Erigena,  who  wrote 
Latin  but  thought  in  Greek  and  was  filled  with  all  the  wisdom  of 
the  Hellenes,  from  Plato  to  Dionysius  the  Areopagite. 

In  847  Archbishop  Otgar  died,  and  Ludwig  the  German  elevated 
his  friend  Rabanus  to  the  see  of  Mainz,  the  metropolitan  see  of 
Germany.  Since  Boniface,  the  Anglo-Saxon  "  Apostle  of  Ger 
many,"  who  had  succeeded  to  this  dignity  a  century  earlier,  there 
had  been  no  man  of  such  eminence  at  the  head  of  the  German 
Church,  nor  have  any  of  his  successors  surpassed  him.  His  first 
care  was  the  restoration  of  the  discipline,  which  had  decayed  under 
the  confusions  of  those  dark  days  of  civil  war.  A  great  synod  met 
at  Mainz  in  October,  Rabanus  having  been  consecrated  in  June. 
Besides  the  prelates,  abbots  and  monks  of  all  orders  attended,  and 
the  canons  adopted  had  reference  to  stricter  life  as  the  obligation  of 
the  clergy. 

The  year  was  not  over  before  news  of  fresh  trouble  reached  him. 
One  of  his  own  pupils  at  Fulda,  the  monk  Gottschalk,  a  man  of 
restless  intellect,  was  reported  as  spreading  an  exaggerated  version 
of  Augustine's  doctrine  of  absolute  predestination,  and  one  which 


RABANUS  MAURUS.  129 

threatened  to  overturn  the  very  idea  of  human  responsibility. 
Gottschalk  evidently  was  one  of  the  people  who  love  to  walk  on 
the  fence  rather  than  in  the  road — to  carry  every  principle  with 
ruthless  logic  to  its  remotest  conclusion.  The  first  news  of  his 
extravagances  reached  Rabanus  in  a  letter  from  Italy  setting  forth 
the  doctrines  his  former  pupil  was  teaching.  He  at  once  re 
sponded  in  a  letter  (or  rather  a  treatise)  taking  the  same  ground  as 
the  semi-Pelagians  had  done  in  the  controversy  with  the  school 
of  Augustine,  ground  sanctioned  by  Gregory  the  Great,  Beda, 
and  Alcuin,  although  thought  unsafe  when  first  defended  by  Gen 
nadi  us  and  John  Cassian.  Gottschalk  seems  to  have  accepted  the 
reply  as  a  sort  of  challenge.  The  next  year,  848,  he  made  his 
way  to  Mainz,  and  when  Rabanus  called  together  an  assembly  of 
churchmen  and  laymen — not  a  regular  synod — he  appeared  before 
it  with  a  confession  of  his  faith  in  which  he  replied  to  the  argu 
ments  of  Rabanus.  The  assembly  failed  to  convince  him  of  his 
being  in  error,  and  at  the  king's  suggestion  a  pledge  was  exacted 
of  him  that  he  would  never  return  to  Germany.  Hincmar  of 
Rheims,  the  metropolitan  of  the  Church  of  France,  made  sure  of 
his  keeping  this  pledge.  As  Gottschalk  was  handed  over  to  him 
by  King  Ludwig,  with  a  letter  of  explanation  from  Rabanus,  he 
had  him  condemned  by  the  Synod  of  Quiercy  (853)  to  deposition 
from  the  priesthood,  corporal  chastisement  until  he  should  burn 
his  confession  with  his  own  hands,  and  lifelong  imprisonment. 
So  ended,  in  867,  this  Calvinist  of  the  ninth  century,  without 
much  credit  to  anybody  who  had  a  hand  in  his  fate,  but  with  least 
of  discredit  to  Rabanus. 

In  852,  by  order  of  King  Ludwig,  another  synod  convened  at 
Mainz,  to  discuss,  it  is  supposed,  the  doctrine  of  transubstantia- 
tion,  which  Paschasius  Radbertus  of  Corbie  had  been  setting  forth 
in  his  treatise,  De  Corpore  et  Sanguine  Christi.     Our  Rabanus  re 
sisted  the  new  dogma,  declaring  that  the  participation  of  the  Lord's 
body  and  blood  in  the  sacrament  is  "  not  carnal  but  spiritual.' 
Nor  is  this  the  only  point  of  his  agreement  with  Protestant  teach-* 
ing.      Especially  in  his  assertion  that  the  Bible  is  a  book  for  ever 
Christian,  and  clear  and  intelligible  as  a  rule  of  faith,  he  antici 
pates  Luther. 

In  850  a  great  famine  desolated  Germany,   in  whose  course 
people  were  driven  to  the  terrible  deeds  which  sometimes  charac- 


130  LATIN  HYMNS. 

terize  such  times.  Rabanus  did  his  possible  to  relieve  the  terrible 
needs  of  his  flock.  Three  hundred  of  these  poor  people  were  fed 
daily  from  his  resources  as  archbishop,  and  his  heart  went  out  in 
pity  to  the  multitudes  he  could  not  aid.  Pitiful  scenes  he  must 
have  witnessed.  One  poor  woman  fell  dead  as  she  staggered  to 
his  threshold,  with  a  babe  at  her  breast.  His  charity  was  too  late 
to  save  her,  but  her  child  was  rescued. 

He  lived  six  years  more,  seeing  his  diocese  recover  from  the 
desolation  of  that  terrible  winter,  cherishing  the  literary  and  educa 
tional  work  of  the  monasteries  on  the  lines  laid  down  in  his  De 
Institutione  Clericorum,  keeping  his  clergy  up  to  the  ideal  of  the 
priestly  life  as  defined  in  his  De  Disciplina  Ecclesiastica,  and  civil 
izing  the  rude  people  of  his  great  diocese.  He  died  in  856,  in  his 
eightieth  year,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Alban's  church  in  Mainz. 
In  the  era  of  the  Refonnation  his  bones  were  transferred  to  St. 
Maurice's  church  in  Halle.  As  Rome  has  not  inscribed  the 
opponent  of  transubstantiation  in  the  list  of  her  saints,  they  are 
allowed  to  rest  together  in  peace,  instead  of  being  distributed 
through  a  long  series  of  churches  as  relics. 

He  had  composed  for  himself  an  epitaph,  as  was  the  fashion  of 
those  days,  but  it  is  pleasanter  to  read  than  some  of  those  exagger 
atedly  humble  and  prosaic  treatises  concerning  which  we  hardly 
know  whether  most  to  stand  amazed  at  the  badness  of  the  Latin 
or  the  meanness  of  the  piety.  Rabanus  avoids  these  objectionable 
features.  His  language  is  that  of  a  poet  and  his  sentiments  those 
of  a  sincere  Christian.  Particularly  there  are  two  lines  which  are 
notable  because  they  give  us  a  glimpse  of  his  personality  : 

"  Promptus  erat  animus,  sed  tardans  debile  corpus  ; 
Feci  quod  poteram,  quodquc  Deus  dederat." 

"  Quick  was  my  mind,  but  slow  was  my  body  through  weakness  ; 
That  which  I  could  I  have  done,  and  what  the  Lord  gave  me." 

One  of  his  latest  bequests  was  that  of  his  books,  which  he  de 
vised,  like  a  true  scholar,  partly  to  his  old  abbey  of  Fulda  and 
partly  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Alban  at  Mainz. 

John  Trithemius  eulogizes  him  in  words  which  may,  per 
haps,  be  transferred  into  our  pages  from  their  original  Latin  as 
a  specimen  of  the  praise  which  Rabanus  has  always  received — 
praise  that  is  indeed  worthy  of  the  man  who  wrote  the  Veni,  Creator. 


RABANUS  MAURUS.  131 

"  Rabanus  was  first  among  the  Germans  ;  a  scholar  universally 
erudite  ;  profound  in  science  ;  eloquent  and  strong  in  discourse  ; 
in  life  and  conversation  he  shone  as  most  learned,  religious,  and 
holy  ;  he  was  always  a  prelate  dignified,  affable,  and  acceptable 
before  God." 

This  same  Trithemius  gives  us  a  little  notion  of  the  bishop's  ap 
pearance.  In  body,  he  says  that  he  was  tolerably  robust ;  of  a 
sanguine,  bilious  temperament ;  rather  fleshly  in  person  than  in 
clined  to  meagreness  (macilentus)  ;  with  a  "  courageous  and  great" 
head  ;  and  of  a  well-proportioned  figure. 

Of  the  other  writings  of  Rabanus  it  is  sufficient  for  us  to  name 
his  compendium  of  the  grammar  of  Priscian  ;  his  great  work  upon 
The  Universe ;  his  treatise  upon  the  Praises  of  the  Holy  Cross, 
and  his  elaborate  commentaries  upon  the  various  books  of  the 
Bible.  He  also  prepared  homilies  and  sundry  compositions  rela 
tive  to  ecclesiastical  matters.  In  the  Patrologia  of  Migne  it  requires 
six  closely-printed  volumes  to  cover  his  contributions  to  sacred 
literature.  Especially  we  have  occasion  to  note  his  theological 
writings,  as  it  is  in  these  that  his  spiritual  character  is  most  appar 
ent 

His  works  mostly  are  dead  enough  to  modern  interest,  but  not 
all.  German  philology  honors  in  him  a  great  churchman  who 
shared  Charles  the  Great's  respect  for  German  speech  and  culture, 
and  at  whose  feet  Otto  of  Weissenburg,  the  poet  of  the  Krist,  sat. 
German  pedagogics  recognizes  in  him  the  first  Praeceptor  Ger- 
maniae,  who  transplanted  to  Fulda  the  generous  plans  of  education 
which  Charles  conceived,  and  which  Alcuin  executed  at  Tours. 
German  philosophy  recognizes  in  him  the  first  forerunner  of  the 
great  series  of  her  metaphysicians.  But  to  us  he  is  Rabanus  the 
poet,  who  acquired  the  art  of  verse  under  Alcuin,  who  used  it  at 
times  to  little  purpose  as  in  his  De  Laudibus  Sanctae  Cruets,  but 
who  in  a  happy  hour  wrote  the  Veni,  Creator  Spiriius. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

NOTKER    OF    ST.   GALL,   CALLED    BALBULUS. 

IN  the  life  of  Notker,  written  by  Ekkehard  (Eckhardt)  the 
Younger,  who  was  Dean  of  St.  Gall  in  1220,  we  have  a  perfect 
mine  of  garrulous  gossip  and  of  chattering,  pleasant  romance.  It 
has  been  called  ' '  one  of  the  most  delightful  of  mediaeval  memoirs  ;" 
though  we  are  very  little  disposed  to  accept  a  large  share  of  it  as 
solid  fact.  There  is  in  it  much  confusion,  both  of  dates  and 
names.  From  one  of  its  stories  came  the  designation  of  Charles  the 
Great  ("  the  Emperor  Charles")  as  the  author  of  the  Veni  Creator, 
a  point  which  we  have  treated  more  fully  in  the  chapter  upon 
Rabanus  Maurus.  The  copyist  is  mainly  accountable  for  these 
blunders,  some  of  which  are  so  grossly  anachronistic  as  to  be  at 
once  corrected  by  their  reader  ;  and  others  are  so  puerile  that  no 
one  can  easily  be  deceived. 

Since  it  is  to  Notker  that  we  owe  the  "  sequence"  in  its  -full 
development,  it  may  be  as  well  for  us  to  let  Ekkehard  sketch  his 
character  at  full  length.  The  biography  is  in  one  of  the  April 
volumes  of  the  Ada  Sanctorum  of  the  Bollandist  Fathers — a  great 
white-covered  folio  which  displays  the  immense  research  of  its 
editors.  For  those  who  are  less  inclined  to  the  Latin  language  in 
its  monkish  form,  there  is  the  admirable  abridgment  by  Baring- 
Gould,  known  as  the  Lives  of  the  Saints — a  compilation  which 
must  be  always  distinguished  from  the  work  of  the  same  title  by 
Alban  Butler.  From  these  sources  a  great  deal  of  truth  and  false 
hood,  fact  and  fiction,  real  record  and  unreal  romance,  have  flowed 
forth  upon  the  world.  We  cannot  but  speak  reverently  and 
kindly  of  such  noble  endeavors  as  those  of  Dr.  Neale,  but  here, 
at  the  very  outset,  it  must  be  understood  that  he  has  been  alto 
gether  too  much  swayed  by  peculiar  opinions  for  his  ideas  upon 
sequences — and  upon  Notker  also— to  have  the  weight  of  absolute 
authority. 

Notker  himself  is  to  be  discriminated  from  another  Notker  of 


NOTKER   OF  ST.    GALL,    CALLED  BALBULUS.        133 

the  same  religious  house  of  St.  Gall,  who  is  generally  known  as 
"  the  Physician."  This  one  is  Balbulus,  or  "  the  Stammerer," 
who  is  sometimes  called  "  Vetustior,"  the  Elder,  to  distinguish 
him  from  his  nephew,  Notkerus  Junior.  He  came,  Ekkehard 
asserts,  of  noble  and  even  royal  parentage,  being  probably  born 
about  the  year  850.  At  an  early  age  he  entered  the  monastery  of 
St.  Gall,  in  Switzerland,  which  had  been  founded  by  Gallus,  the 
Irish  saint,  a  disciple  of  Columbanus,  in  the  seventh  century. 
This  celebrated  man  died,  A.  D.  640,  at  the  age  of  ninety-five,  and 
his  life  was  written  by  VValafrid  Strabo  in  two  books  ;  the  martyr- 
ology  recording  his  death  upon  October  i6th.  St.  Gall  itself  is  now 
a  town  of  some  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants,  and  the  capital  of  the 
canton  to  which  it  has  given  its  own  name.  But  the  abbey  was 
suppressed  in  1805,  though  the  library,  filled  with  valuable  manu 
scripts,  still  remains.  From  these  ancient  parchments  P.  Gall 
Morel,  Librarian  at  Einsiedeln,  has  resuscitated  many  sequences 
and  hymns  formerly  employed  in  their  services. 

The  Sangallensian  poets  are  not,  however,  very  numerous. 
Hartmann  was  probably  the  earliest  composer  of  a  "  sequence" 
— a  style  of  sacred  poem  which  we  shall  consider  presently.  Then 
came  Notker  Balbulus,  who  has  the  greater  renown.  Tutilo  and 
Ratpert  and  Walafrid  Strabo  complete  the  list.  St.  Gall  was  for 
years  a  noted  centre  of  learning.  It  is  well  situated,  and  from  its 
towers  the  waters  of  the  Boden-See  (from  which  it  is  distant  but  a 
few  miles)  can  be  readily  discerned. 

Here,  then,  Notker  began  his  religious  life.  He  had  probably 
seen  the  light  in  the  green  and  fertile  Thurgau  not  far  away  from 
T>t  Gall.  And  his  talents  were  soon  so  noticeable  that  he  rapidly 
advanced  in  the  esteem  of  his  associates.  Meanwhile — for  the 
Irish  and  Scottish  monks  made  this  a  thoroughfare  on  their  pilgrim 
ages  to  Rome — there  came  along  an  Irish  bishop  named  Mark, 
whose  nephew,  Maengal,  strongly  aroused  the  admiration  of  Notker. 
Maengal's  music  especially  affected  him,  and  he  devoutly  prayed 
God  to  let  the  Irishman  tarry  with  them  at  St.  Gall.  This  in 
deed  happened,  and  Maengal,  rechristened  Marcellus,  remained 
in  Switzerland. 

This  good  tutor  now  undertook  the  musical  training  of  Notker, 
Ratpert,  and  Tutilo.  And  from  this  beginning  arose  the  choral 
school  of  St.  Gall.  Ekkehard' s  history  of  it  is  most  suggestive. 


134  LATIN  HYMNS. 

It  was  originally  begun,  he  says,  for  the  study  of  the  Gregorian 
tones,  but  these  Swiss  people  had  by  degrees  lost  the  sweetness  of 
the  old  Pope's  music.  And  he  borrows  the  language  of  John  the 
Deacon,  in  his  life  of  Gregory,  to  satirize  the  "  thundering  voices" 
with  which  such  "Alpine  bodies"  failed  to  secure  the  proper 
modulation.  I  borrow  Baring-Gould's  idiomatic  rendering  of  this 
significant  passage.  It  runs  as  follows  : 

' '  The  barbarous  hugeness  of  those  tippling  throats,  when  en 
deavoring  to  utter  a  soft  song  full  of  inflections  and  diphthongs, 
makes  a  great  roar,  as  though  carts  were  tumbling  down  steps 
headlong  ;  and  so,  instead  of  soothing  the  minds  of  those  who 
listen,  it  agitates  and  exasperates  them  beyond  endurance. " 

Such  was  the  character  of  church  music  when  the  song  school  of 
St.  Gall  was  started.  The  monks  had  already  been  so  fortunate  as  to 
secure  one  of  the  two  Gregorian  antiphonaries  sent  by  Pope  Adrian 
to  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Great.  The  occurrence  was  curious 
enough  to  be  chronicled,  and  the  story  merits  our  own  repetition. 
Metz  had  been  the  German  music  centre,  but  when  the  French 
music  clashed  with  that  which  was  considered  the  correct  and 
Gregorian  method,  Charles  again  solicited  from  the  Pope  two 
priests  who  were  thorough  musicians,  and  should  put  Metz  and 
her  school  above  criticism.  These  two  men,  by  name  Peter 
and  Romanus,  set  out  thereupon,  but  took  a  heavy  cold  between 
them  at  Lago  Maggiore  (acre  Romanis  contrario  quaterenlur). 
Peter  soon  recovered,  but  Romanus  advanced  from  a  mere  cold 
into  an  actual  fever,  and  remained  at  St.  Gall  with  one  of  the  anti 
phonaries,  while  the  disgusted  Peter,  who  claimed  both  copies, 
was  forced  to  proceed  alone  and  with  a  single  manuscript  to 
Metz. 

St.  Gall  was  sufficiently  attractive  to  Romanus  for  him  to  make 
no  effort  to  leave  it  when  he  grew  convalescent.  And  these  com 
positions  and  melodies  of  his  were  the  foundation  upon  which,  in 
later  years,  Notker  and  Hartmann  and  the  others  built  their 
sequences.  That  which  Maengal  now  effected  was  the  real  begin 
ning  of  that  system  of  music  which  is  so  elaborately  treated  by  Dr. 
Neale  in  his  preface  to  the  second  volume  of  Daniel's  Thesaurus. 
Perhaps  more  has  been  made  of  it  there  than  it  really  deserves. 
It  is  certainly  too  far  out  of  the  line  of  this  inquiry  of  ours  for  us 
to  discuss  the  point  technically.  One  of  the  best  definitions  of 


NOTKER   OF  ST.    GALL,    CALLED  BALBULUS.       135 

the  sequence  is,  however,  that  of  Mabillon,  who  calls  such  com-   | 
positions  "  rhythmical  prayers"  (ryihmicae preces).  \ 

Notker  became  easily — so  Ekkehard  asserts — the  finest  musician 
about  the  abbey.  He  was  also  a  bright  and  rather  witty  man. 
When  Augustine  was  asked  what  God  was  doing  before  He  created 
the  world,  he  replied  that  He  "was  building  hell  for  such  vain 
and  frivolous  spirits"  as  that  of  his  questioner.  The  chaplain  of 
Charles  the  Fat  put  a  similar  inquiry  to  Notker,  and  got  quite  as 
brief  a  retort.  He  asked,  "What  is  God  doing  now?"  And 
Notker  stammered  out,  "Just  what  He  has  always  done  and 
always  will  do  ;  He  is  putting  down  the  proud  and  exalting  the 
humble  !'' 

There  is  another  of  these  queer  anecdotes  which  will  serve  to 
show  that  the  old  monks  were  by  no  means  destitute  of  a  sense  of 
humor.  A  certain  young  Salomon,  son  of  the  Count  of  Ramsweg, 
was  a  student  of  the  abbey  school,  and  something  of  a  snob  among 
his  fellow-scholars.  Notker,  Ratpert,  Tutilo  and  Hartmann  were 
of  as  good  family  as  he,  and  they  did  not  enjoy  his  behavior. 
Finally,  through  favoritism,  Salomon  came  to  be  abbot  of  six 
monasteries  and  Bishop  of  Constance  in  addition.  But  in  spite 
of  these  dignities  he  had  a  singular  predilection  for  the  Abbey  of 
St  Gall,  and  was  accustomed  to  put  on  a  surplice  and  go  about 
the  place  attending  the  offices  like  a  regular  monk — which,  by  the 
way,  he  had  no  right  to  do.  His  old  friends  found  this  out,  and 
raised  so  much  of  a  stir  about  it  that  he  ceased  from  the  practice. 
But  at  night  he  still  persisted  in  entering  the  abbey  and  aiding  in 
the  services. 

Rudiger,  one  of  the  confederates,  was  therefore  set  to  watch  for 
the  coming  of  the  intruding  bishop,  and  when  Salomon  slipped 
along  toward  the  chuich  in  the  darkness  the  watcher  suddenly 
thrust  a  light  in  his  face  and  saw  who  it  was.  Then  this  valiant 
Rudiger  swore  the  largest  oath  permitted  in  those  sacred  precincts, 
for  he  asseverated  "by  St.  Gall"  that  no  stranger  in  their  con 
ventual  habit  should  be  around  the  cloisters  at  night.  Salomon 
offered  endless  apologies,  and  promised  to  secure  permission  from 
the  abbot  before  he  wore  the  surplice  again.  And  he  even  turned 
his  discomfiture  into  a  partial  victory  by  begging  Rudiger  to  pre 
sent  this  request  in  his  behalf.  The  petition,  so  voiced,  came 
duly  before  the  "senate"  of  that  monkish  republic,  which  hap- 


136    .  LATIN  HYMNS. 

pened,  unfortunately  for  the  avaricious  and  rapacious  Salomon, 
to  include  his  four  opposers — "  Hartmann,  who  composed  the 
melody  to  the  Sanctus  humili  prece  ;  Notker  the  Stammerer,  who 
made  Sequences  ;  Ratpert,  who  wioteArdua  spesmundi,  and  Tutilo, 
who  was  the  author  of  Hodie  cantandus."  These  men  finally 
allowed  him  to  come  in  as  usual,  provided  he  would  entirely 
demit  his  canon's  raiment,  and  be  nothing  but  a  Benedictine  monk 
while  within  the  walls. 

Somehow  Salomon  conceded  even  this,  and  one  day  brought  a 
splendid  gift — a  gold  box  encrusted  with  jewels  and  containing 
relics  —which  he  offered  to  the  abbey.  All  this  looked  in  the 
direction  that  the  monks  feared  ;  and  they  therefore  rejected  his 
present  with  some  scorn.  But  it  did  not  take  long  to  lift  Salomon 
the  Simonist  to  the  Abbacy  of  Reichenau,  and  then  Archbishop 
Sfortto  contrived  at  length  to  secure  the  wealthy  St.  Gall  for  his 
favorite.  Thus  Salomon,  the  detested,  became,  in  spite  of  all 
opposition,  the  abbot  of  that  celebrated  cloister. 

But  St.  Gall  itself  had  always  prospered,  apparently  as  the  sun 
does  according  to  the  theories  of  some  astronomers,  for  it  had 
been  continually  receiving  cometary  accessions  that  dropped  into 
it  unexpectedly.  One  such  was  an  antiphonary,  which,  on  the 
principle  that  "to  him  that  hath  shall  be  given,"  fell  into  the 
hands  of  these  musical  monks  through  the  burning  of  the  Abbey  of 
Jumieges  in  851.  This  was  the  true  origin  of  the  "  sequence." 
It  solved  the  problem  of  Notker  in  a  novel  manner  when  he  finally 
examined  it,  for  he  had  been  puzzled  at  the  immense  prolongation 
of  the  final  syllable  ia  in  the  Alleluia,  which  was  sung  to  cover  the 
retreat  of  the  deacon  as  he  ascended  to  the  rood-loft  to  chant  the 
Gospel.  This  Alleluia  came  between  the  Epistle  and  the  Gospel, 
and  as  the  deacon  had  some  space  to  traverse,  the  ia  was  nearly  inter 
minable  ;  for  even  a  very  few  seconds  became  on  such  an  occasion 
a  most  perceptible  and  wearisome  interval  of  time. 

This  Jumieges  antiphonary,  in  which  words  were  fitted  to  the 
Gregorian  tones,  suggested  another  treatment  of  the  difficulty.  Not 
ker  consequently  composed  the  Laudes  Deo  concinat,  and  afterward 
the  Coluber  Adae  male  suasor.  Iso,  his  master,  approved  of  them, 
and  Maengal  afterward  gave  him  considerable  help.  The  "  se 
quence"  in  its  standard  form  had  a  "  note  to  each  syllable,"  as  in 
modern  church  music.  And  this  was  the  beginning  of  that  Book 


NOTKER   OF  ST.   GALL,    CALLED  BALBULUS.       137 

of  Sequences  perfected  by  him  in  887,  and  which  has  gained  a 
merited  prominence  for  the  name  of  Notker  Balbulus. 

Ekkehard  tells  certain  legends  (which  may  or  may  not  be  trust 
worthy)  regarding  the  suggestion  whence  some  of  these  sprung. 
The  droning  rotation  of  a  slow  mill-wheel  gave  rise,  he  says,  to  the 
sequence  Sancli  Spiriius  adsit  nobis  gratia ;  and  this  is  far  more 
credible  than  the  additional  information  that  Notker  sent  it  to 
"the  Emperor"  Charles  and  got  back  the  famous  Veni  Creator 
Spiriius—*.  story  which  Mabillon  utterly  confutes.  This  Emperor 
was  certainly  not  Charles  the  Great — who  was  long  ago  dead — and  it 
might  have  been  Charles  "  the  Bald  "  or  Charles  "  the  Fat"  (the 
usurper),  or  Charles  "  the  Simple,"  but  there  seems  an  antecedent 
improbability  that  any  such  nickname  could  belong  to  the  grave 
and  great  poet  of  that  splendid  hymn.  And,  indeed,  we  are  now 
positive  that  it  is  the  composition  of  Rabanus  Maurus,  Bishop  of 
Mayence  (Mainz),  who  died  in  856. 

There  is  probably  some  show  of  reason  in  the  idea  that  the 
groaning  machinery  of  a  mill  should  have  helped  to  originate  the 
extended  notes  of  the  ' '  sequence. ' '  The  picturesqueness  of  the 
story  is  really  its  best  claim  to  our  notice.  I  well  remember  a 
mill  by  which  I  used  often  to  pause  in  the  stillness  of  night,  listen 
ing  to  the  wailing  protracted  cadences  of  the  huge  wheel  which 
slowly  turned  in  its  bed  as  the  buckets  successively  filled  from  the 
shut,  but  leaky  gates.  Hearing  this,  and  comparing  it  with  the 
"  sequence"  of  the  Catholic  service,  or  with  the  long-drawn  tones 
of  a  German  choral,  it  is  impossible  not  to  be  struck  by  the 
resemblance. 

Then  there  is  another  story — indeed,  there  are  several  in  the 
Latin  which  could  scarcely  be  inserted  here — but  there  is  certainly 
one  other  which  both  Baring-Gould  and  Maitland  have  had  suffi 
cient  geniality  to  extract  It  refers  to  the  manner  in  which  Notker, 
Ratpert,  and  Tutilo — "the  three  inseparables" — attended  to  the 
eavesdropping  of  one  of  Abbot  Salomon's  spies.  This  spy  was 
Sindolf,  the  re/ectorarius,  or  steward,  a  sour-visaged,  crab-appleish 
kind  of  man,  who  was  never  so  happy  as  when  he  had  an  evil 
speech  to  retail.  He  particularly  delighted  in  fretting  the  temper 
of  the  abbot  with  reference  to  these  poets  and  musicians,  but  they 
suspected  his  design  and  "  set  a  watch  because  of  him." 

One  evening  after  "  lauds"   the  three  were  in  the  "  writing- 


138  LATIN  HYMNS. 

room'  (scriptorium)  where  the  manuscripts  were  prepared  and 
kept,  busy  with  their  conversation  and  having  thereto  the  permis 
sion  of  the  prior.  Sindolf  sniffed  scandal  in  the  air,  and  flattened 
his  ear  against  the  opaque  glass,  where  a  convenient  crack  suffered 
him  to  listen  to  their  words.  It  was  night,  and  Tutilo,  a  shrewd, 
lively  fellow  (homo  pervicax),  was  glad  enough  to  get  this  occasion 
against  the  slinking  traitor.  In  the  Ada  Sanctorum,  and  again  in 
Mabillon,  copied  into  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-first  volume  of 
Migne,  we  have  old  Ekkehard's  grim  report  of  this  monkish  fun. 

"  There  he  is  with  his  ear  to  the  glass,"  cried  Tutilo.  "  Do 
you,  Notker,  because  you  are  a  timid  little  chap  (timidulus),  go 
away  into  the  church.  But  Ratpert,  my  friend,  take  down  the 
whip  that  hangs  in  the  chimney  corner  and  run  out-doors.  And 
then  comfort  my  heart  (cor  meum  confer  tare)  by  laying  on  to  him 
with  all  your  might  (esto  robuslus).  For  I,  when  you  get  close 
enough,  will  throw  open  the  window  in  a  hurry,  catch  him  by  the 
hair  and  hang  on  with  a  will"  (ad  me  pertractum  violenter  tenebd). 
Off  went  the  timorous  Notker  ;  out  slipped  the  cheerful  Ratpert ; 
open  went  the  window,  and  the  vigorous  Tutilo  clutched  Sindolf 
by  ears  and  hair  together  !  Then  Ratpeit  rained  on  the  lashes 
(a  dorso  ingrandinat),  and  Sindolf  twisted  and  howled  and  kicked, 
and  lights  began  to  fly  around,  and  the  brethren  came  running. 
But  Tutilo  held  on  and  called  for  a  light  and  shouted  that  he  had 
caught  the  devil  ;  while  Ratpert  vanished  into  the  night  and 
Notker  had  entirely  disappeared  in  the  church.  "  Where  are 
Notker  and  Ratpert  ?' '  was  the  first  question.  "  Oh,  they  smelled 
the  devil  and  ran  away  to  ask  succor  from  heaven,"  said  Tutilo. 
"  And  here  was  I,  left  to  do  the  best  I  could  with  this  thing  that 
walks  in  darkness.  And  I  believe  an  angel  has  been  sent  to 
chastise  him  in  the  rear  !" 

The  sneaky  Sindolf  was  completely  abashed,  but  his  temper  did 
not  improve  under  the  chastisement.  Even  Salomon,  his  patron, 
laughed  at  him  along  with  the  others,  which  made  the  matter 
worse.  So  one  day,  finding  a  beautiful  copy  of  the  Canonical 
Epistles  in  Greek  which  Liutward,  Bishop  of  Vercelli,  had  sent  as 
a  present  to  Notker,  what  does  the  malicious  wretch  do  but  cut  it 
to  pieces  with  his  knife  !  Ekkehard  adds  that  the  mutilated  copy 
could  still  be  seen  in  the  library  of  St.  Gall. 

These  two  worthies,  Ratpert  and  Tutilo,  heartily  deserve  the 


NOTKER   OF  ST.    GALL,    CALLED  BALBULUS.       139 

place  which  Ekkehard  accords  them  in  his  life  of  Notker.  Ratpert 
walked  usually  between  Notker  and  Tutilo  ;  a  very  punctual, 
studious  man  who  "  wore  out  two  pairs  of  shoes  in  the  year  ;"  a 
man  who  seldom  left  the  abbey  walls,  and  who  regarded  "  expedi 
tions"  as  being  to  the  full  "  as  dangerous  as  kisses  ;"  a  negligent 
fellow  about  the  offices  and  masses,  claiming  that  he  taught  them 
often  enough  to  his  pupils  ;  and  finally,  a  composer  of  good 
litanies  ;  dying  October  25th,  A.D.  900. 

Tutilo  was  a  capital  companion  ;  genial  and  ingenious  ;  capable 
of  music  on  all  sorts  of  pipes  and  fiddles  ;  who  told  a  good  story 
and  made  many  a  good  joke  ;  active  and  agile  in  his  figure,  and 
withal  a  fine  carver,  painter,  and  goldsmith.  Some  of  his  ivory 
carving  still  exists  in  the  town  library  of  St.  Gall — so  one  historian 
records  in  a  foot-note — and  he  was  evidently  a  most  skilful  musi 
cian,  whose  hymn  tunes,  composed  on  the  rota,  or  small  harp 
(the  minstrel's  instrument  in  those  days),  were  always  acceptable. 
He  wrote  Hodie  cantandus,  Omnium  virlulum  gemmis,  and  Viri 
Galilaei.  This  last  he  sent  to  "  King  Charles,"  who  himself  com 
posed  a  tune  to  which  Tutilo  set  words  called  Quoniam  Dominus. 
His  royal  patron  liked  him  well.  "  Curse  the  man,"  he  said  one 
day,  "  he  is  altogether  too  good  a  fellow  to  be  a  monk  !"  Ekke 
hard  adds  to  this  list  of  compositions  the  sequence  Gaudete  et  can- 
tale  as  a  specimen  of  Tutilo's  ability  in  a  slightly  different  direction 
of  music,  declaring  that  "  any  one  who  understands  music"  will 
notice  and  appreciate  the  distinction. 

Hartmann  was  abbot  after  Salomon  ;  a  most  learned  man,  and 
one  who  perhaps  contributed  more  to  the  development  of  the 
"  sequence"  than  we  are  now  able  to  prove. 

Of  Notker  it  is  only  fair  to  say  that  he  gave  to  himself  the  name 
Balbus,  or  Stammerer,  which  was  changed,  owing  apparently  to 
his  small  stature,  into  the  diminutive,  Balbulus.  When  Innocent 
III.  asked  Uadalric,  then  Abbot  of  SL  Gall,  what  rank  Notker 
had  held  in  the  convent,  the  abbot  replied  that  he  was  only  "  a 
simple  monk,"  but  was  born  of  noble  parents  and  was  thoroughly 
holy  and  well  educated.  On  which  the  Pope  declared  that  they 
were  wretched  and  wicked  people  (neyuissimi),  and  would  suffer 
for  it  (infelices  eritis)  if  they  did  not  celebrate  the  festival  of  this 
man  who  had  been  "  so  full  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  Julius  II. 
commanded  Hugo,  Bishop  of  Constance,  to  inquire  into  the  matter. 


140  LATIN  HYMNS. 

The  result  established  him  as  a  beatified  confessor,  and  so  distin 
guished  him  by  the  prefix  "  Blessed  "  from  Notker  "  the  Abbot," 
who  was  his  nephew,  and  died  973  ;  Notker  "  the  Physician," 
who  died  1033  ;  Notker  "  of  Liege,"  who  died  1007,  and  Notker 
"  Labeo,"  who  died  1022.  B.  Notker  Balbulus  himself  died  in 
912.  Salomon,  who  was  then  his  abbot,  died  in  919,  and  in  921 
Hartmann  succeeded  to  the  dignity. 

It  would  not  be  difficult  to  add  to  this  account  several  super 
stitious  stories  ;  how  Notker  broke  his  staff  over  a  dog-devil  which 
went  howling  through  the  church  ;  how  he  had  some  difficulty 
with  another  demon  who  intermeddled  with  pen  and  ink  ;  how 
he  severely  handled  a  flagitious  monk  ;  and,  generally,  how  he 
proved  to  be  a  moderate  worker  of  miracles  and  a  pleasant  col 
league  to  the  other  cenobites. 

But  we  turn  with  a  peculiar  interest  to  that  little  sequence  which 
has  made  his  name  immortal.  This  Media  vita  in  morie  sumus  is 
the  one  which  meets  us  in  the  Burial  Service  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  : 

"  In  the  midst  of  life  we  are  in  death  : 
Of  whom  may  we  seek  for  succor 
But  of  thee,  O  Lord, 
Who  for  our  sins  art  justly  displeased  ?" 

It  is  there  found  in  connection  with  a  passage  from  the  Book  of 
Job,  and  is  followed  by  the  Sancle  Deus  ;  Sancte  foriis  ;  Sancle 
el  misericors  Salvator,  Amarce  morii  ne  tradas  nos ;  which  is  in 
our  translation,  "  Yet,  O  Lord  most  holy,  O  Lord  most  mighty, 
O  holy  and  most  merciful  Saviour,  deliver  us  not  into  the  bitter 
pains  of  eternal  death."  All  that  Notker  originally  composed  is 
that  which  is  first  mentioned  above.  The  rest  came  about  as  we 
shall  presently  see. 

The  Rev.  F.  Proctor,  in  his  History  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  states  that  this  brief  sequence — of  which  he  does  not 
appear  to  know  the  origin — "  was  formed  from  an  antiphon  which 
was  sung  at  Compline  during  apart  of  Lent."  There  is  also  a 
singular  misapprehension  by  which  the  "  samphire  gatherers" 
hanging  over  the  cliffs  of  England  at  their  "  dreadful  trade"  were 
credited  with  the  suggestion.  It  was  formerly  supposed  that 
Notker  watched  them  during  their  dangerous  toil,  and  so,  by  an- 


NOTKER   OF  ST.    GALL,    CALLED  BALBULUS.       141 

other  equally  strange  inadvertence,  the  fact  was  taken  as  a  proof 
that  he  must  have  been  himself  a  native  or  resident  of  Britain. 
This,  like  the  other  legend  of  the  twenty-year  debate  upon 
sequences,  proves  on  inquiry  to  have  no  foundation  in  fact.  The 
story  itself  is  a  sufficient  explanation  without  any  coloring  what 
ever.  It  reveals  to  us  the  poetic  spirit  of  the  devout  man  who 
beheld  his  fellow-creatures  poised  between  life  and  death,  and 
wrote  this  short  and  exquisite  meditation  thereon. 

"  The  holy  Notker,"  says  Canisius,  "  made  the  '  prose'  of  the 
following  lament  when  the  bridge  [over  the  chasm]  at  Martinstobel 
was  being  constructed  in  a  precipitous  and  most  dangerous  place. 
But  who  added  the  '  verses '  I  do  not  know.  I  have  quoted  it 
from  a  most  ancient  codex,  where  it  is  set  to  modern  notes. ' '  He 
then  proceeds  to  give  it  in  the  ordinary  form.  It  is,  as  he  says,  a 
prose,  and  must  be  distinguished  from  verses  of  regular  metre  : 

"  Media  vita  in  morte  sumus,  quern  quaerimus  adjutorem, 
nisi  te,  Domine,  qui  pro  peccatis  nostris  juste  irasceris." 

Thus  far  Notker.     Then  occur  the  "  verses"  in  three  stanzas  : 

"  Ah  homo,  perpende  fragilis, 
Mortalis,  et  instabilis, 
Quod  vitare  non  poteris 
Mortem,  quocunque  ieris. 
Aufert  te,  saepissime, 
Dum  vivis  libentissime. 
Sancte  deus. 

"  Vae  calamitas  inediae, 
Vermis  {remit  invidiae, 
Dum  audit  flentem  animam 
Mortalis  esse  utinam  ! 
Nee  Christ!  fati  gladius, 
Transiret,  et  non  alius, 
Sancte  fortis. 

"  Heu  nil  valet  nobilitas 
Neque  sedis  sublimitas, 
Nil  generis  potentia, 
Nil  rerum  affhientia, 
Plus  pura  conscientia 
Valet  mundi  scientia. 
Sancte  et  misericors  Salvator, 

Amarae  morti  ne  trad  as  nos." 


142  LATIN  HYMNS. 

It  is  perfectly  plain,  then,  that  this  "  third  sequence" — the  Media 
vita  being  the  second — is  derived  from  the  ' '  verses' '  whose  author 
ship  Canisius  cannot  discover,  and  the  date  of  which  cannot  be  far 
from  the  fourteenth  century. 

But  when  we  imagine  the  good  monk  watching  the  workmen 
from  the  brink  of  the  Goldach,  which  hurries  down  through  St. 
Gall  toward  the  Boden-See,  we  can  bring  to  mind  the  whole  pic 
ture.  The  present  bridge  is  one  hundred  and  sixteen  feet  long 
and  fully  one  hundred  in  height  from  the  swift  little  stream.  It  is 
of  wood,  and  was  constructed  in  1468.  Here,  dizzily  balancing 
in  mid-air,  tradition  says  that  a  man,  even  as  Notker  gazed,  lost 
his  footing  and  plunged  into  the  abyss.  The  eternities  came 
together  !  A  spark  from  the  infinite  kindled  within  the  poet's 
soul.  Heaven  from  on  high  beheld  this  single  life  suddenly 
hurled  to  ruin.  Earth  from  beneath  reached  up  and  seized  upon 
the  thing  of  earth.  And  thus  it  was  with  us  every  moment !  In 
the  midst  of  life  we  were  in  death,  and  from  none  could  we  seek 
for  help  save  from  God  alone — that  God,  displeased  at  sinners, 
who  is  the  sinner's  only  hope  ! 

Standing  once  before  the  graves  at  Gettysburg,  the  tall  gaunt 
figure  of  Abraham  Lincoln  paused  upon  such  an  eternal  edge. 
His  soul  took  in  at  one  sweep  the  heroic  past  and  the  historic 
future.  And  those  words  which  came,  so  men  assure  us,  almost 
without  premeditation  from  his  lips  are  the  noblest  utterance  of 
our  time.  That  compact,  terse,  brief  expression  is  the  essence  of 
national  strength.  The  phrases  are  vivid  with  a  supernatural 
brightness  :  "  Government  of  the  people,  for  the  people,  by  the 
people  must  not  perish  from  the  earth."  It  was  so  with  Notker  ; 
and  now,  wherever  that  beautiful  service  is  uttered  above  the  dead, 
the  forgotten  monk  of  St.  Gall  speaks  with  a  voice  which  touches 
unaltering  humanity,  and  utters  that  grave,  great  thought,  preciously 
protected  in  its  small  casket  of  language,  that  death  is  beneath  and 
God  is  above,  and  that  all  our  hope  must  come  from  Him  ! 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

WALAFRID    STRABO. 

AMONG  the  popils  of  Rabanus  Maurus  was  a  boy  afflicted  with 
strabismus.  He  was  cross-eyed,  or  crooked- eyed  in  some  manner, 
and  this  fixed  upon  him  the  name  of  Strabo  the  "squinter." 
Like  many  another  monk  in  that  age,  he  has  so  sunk  himself  into 
his  service  as  to  have  become  a  man  without  a  country  and  almost 
without  parentage.  Some  therefore  contend  that  he  was  an  Anglo- 
Saxon,  once  a  monk  in  London  and  afterward  educated  at  St. 
Gall,  Reichenau,  and  Fulda.  An  obscure  tradition  even  makes 
him  a  relative  of  the  Venerable  Bede.  Another  story  assigns  him 
to  Haymo's  family.  Now,  Haymo  was  a  monk  of  Fulda  about 
850,  a  man  of  very  liberal  opinions,  learned,  and  truly  catholic, 
especially  in  his  denial  of  the  universal  authority  of  the  Pope  and 
the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  It  is  something  of  an  honor 
to  have  been  this  man's  brother,  and  it  is  no  discredit  to  have  been 
related  to  Bede.  At  any  rate  these  guesses — for  they  are  little  else 
— serve  to  show  us  the  repute  in  which  Walafrid  Strabo  was  held. 

More  accurate  investigation  reveals  a  sentence  in  the  preface  to 
the  life  of  St.  Gall  which  seems  conclusive.  In  it  Walafrid  speaks 
of  "  us  Germans  or  Suabians."  Suabia  is  thus  designated  as  his 
birthplace,  and  we  find  his  name  among  the  list  of  those  scholars 
who  did  credit  to  their  teacher  Rabanus. 

His  period  is  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  for  in  842  he 
became  Abbot  of  Reichenau  in  the  diocese  of  Constance,  and  he 
died  in  849.  Dates  like  these  are  not  hard  to  verify,  for  we  have 
many  chronicles  and  records  in  which  the  Dark  Ages  laid  the 
foundations  of  authentic  history.  Here  lie  away  in  their  narrow 
niches  of  brief  reference  many  illustrious  people.  And  the  work 
of  the  hymnologist  consists  often  enough  in  the  same  sort  of  re 
search  as  secular  history  demands.  Now  and  then  on  the  dead 
breast  there  is  a  little  withered  flower  ready  to  crumble  into  dust 

That  curious,  peering  Trithemius — to  whom  we  are  indebted 


144  LATIN  HYMNS. 

for  such  laborious  inquiries  concerning  the  men  of  this  time — 
maintains  that  Walafrid  was  "  rector"  of  the  school  in  the  mon 
astery  of  Hirschfeld.  If  this  be  so  it  only  confirms  what  we  note 
again  and  again,  that  Alcuin  and  Rabanus  were  the  real  instigators 
of  German  scholarship.  And  the  work  from  which  we  shall  pres 
ently  quote  becomes  more  interesting  to  us  for  this  reason. 

Walafrid  left  a  long  catalogue  of  works  behind  him.  He  wrote 
a  valuable  antiquarian  treatise  on  the  divine  offices  and  usages 
of  the  Church.  Besides,  he  is  accredited  as  the  author  of  the  lives 
of  St.  Gall,  St.  Othmar,  St.  Blaithmac,  St.  Mamma,  and  St.  Leu- 
degaris.  He  also  composed  various  poems  ;  a  preface  to  the 
Life  of  Ludwig  the  Pious,  and  a  condensation  of  Rabanus 
Maurus's  Commentary  on  Leviticus.  He  compiled  the  famous 
Glossa  Ordinaria,  which  remained  the  standard  commentary  on 
the  Bible  throughout  the  Middle  Ages.  He  began  the  annals  of 
Fulda,  which  have  since  been  continued  by  competent  hands, 
notably  those  of  Christopher  Brower.  He  has  been  called  ' '  a 
pretty  good  poet  for  his  age" — by  which  is  meant  that  there  was  a 
scanty  supply  of  poetry  in  the  ninth  century — a  fact  which  no  one 
is  competent  to  dispute. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  his  life  was  the  life  of  an  ecclesiast, 
restricted  to  a  Chinese  minuteness  of  ritual,  and  permitting  only 
such  visits  and  journeys  as  religious  business  justified.  His  death 
occurred  on  one  of  these  infrequent  expeditions.  It  was  in 
France,  whither  he  had  gone — as  we  are  expressly  told — in  order 
to  hasten  some  ecclesiastical  affair. 

These  are  the  meagre  and  unentertaining  facts  connected  with 
the  name  of  Walafrid  Strabo.  He  would  not  have  deserved,  nor 
would  he  have  received  our  notice  if  two  of  his  hymns  (the 
Laudem  beatae  martyris  and  the  Gloriam  nato  cecinere)  had  not 
been  preserved.  These  entitle  him  to  mention,  and  he  promptly 
rises  to  genuine  importance  if  we  can  agree  with  Kellner  (see 
Bibliotheca  Sacra,  January,  1883,  p.  154),  that  a  recently  discovered 
"  diary"  is  from  his  pen.  It  is  probable  that,  whether  it  be 
authentic  or  not,  it  is  strictly  accurate  in  its  relation  of  the  studies 
pursued  in  those  schools.  And  if  we  assume  it  to  be  credible  we 
can  revise  our  dates  to  correspond. 

Thus  his  school  life  began  in  816,  and  after  its  close  he  went  to 
Fulda,  thence  to  return  to  his  old  monastery  in  842  as  its  abbot. 


WALAFRID   STRABO.  145 

These  dates  are  afforded  by  the  document  itself,  which  was  origi 
nally  published  in  1857,  as  a  part  of  the  educational  report  of  the 
Benedictine  school  of  St.  Maria  of  Einsiedeln  in  Switzerland.  It 
appears  to  me  that  its  tone  and  composition  are  not  such  as  to 
justify  the  value  which  Kellner  sets  upon  it.  Walafrid's  name 
was  a  convenient  one,  and  this  is  doubtless  no  more  nor  less  than 
a  clever  historical  romance.  But  it  has  been  composed  in  the 
very  neighborhood  of  the  scenes  it  depicts,  and  the  advantages  of 
all  the  ancient  MSS.  and  traditions  have  been  incalculably  great. 

The  narrative  is  introduced  by  a  modern  preface  which  speaks 
of  St.  Meinrad,  the  founder  of  Einsiedeln,  as  a  contemporary  of 
Walafrid.  Then  we  have  a  statement  which  tersely  exhibits  the 
plan  and  purpose  of  the  story  : 

' '  In  the  dark  hour  when  the  Roman  imperial  throne  collapsed 
on  which  Theodoric  the  Goth  had  just  seated  his  teacher  Avitus, 
Manlius  Boethius  committed  his  spiritual  wealth  to  the  Goth 
Cassiodorus,  who  transmitted  it  to  the  sons  of  St.  Benedict,"  etc. 

"  The  seed  of  Christian  instruction  had  been  inherited  by  thfi  sons 
of  St.  Benedict  from  the  age  of  martyrs  and  holy  fathers.  Great 
seminaries  were  opened  at  Fulda,  Weissenberg  in  the  bishopric 
of  Speyer,  St  Alban  in  Mainz,  St.  Gall,  Reichenau  in  the  bish 
opric  of  Constance,  St.  Maximin,  and  St.  Matthias  in  Trier,  etc. 
To  these  establishments  the  sons  of  the  nobility  resorted,  while  the 
Benedictines  were  their  teachers  and  fathers.  Whoever  saw  one 
of  these  schools  saw  them  all  as  to  everything  essential.  Accord 
ingly,  it  is  our  purpose  to  describe  one  of  them — namely,  the  school 
of  Reichenau,  from  which  carrle  the  founder  of  Einsiedeln,  St. 
Meinrad,  and  Walafrid  Strabo,  who  was  his  schoolmate  in 
Reichenau,  and  who,  four  years  after  him,  assumed  the  Benedic 
tine  dress." 

Then  follows  an  assurance  to  the  "  intelligent  reader' '  that  this 
account  "  is  not  mere  poetry,"  but  is  "  sustained  by  authoritative 
documents,"  among  which  are  named  the  writings  of  Walafrid 
himself,  of  Bede,  Alcuin,  Rabanus,  and  the  collections  of  Fez, 
Metzler,  and  others.  It  is  plain,  then,  that  Kellner  has  been  mis 
led,  and  that  Professor  J.  D.  Butler,  of  Madison,  Wis.,  who  has 
made  this  clever  translation  from  the  German,  has  been  likewise 
deceived.  Yet  the  historical  importance  of  the  "  diary"  remains, 
and  the  writings  of  Alcuin,  Bede,  and  Rabanus,  with  those  of 


146*  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Walafrid,  give  the  original  particulars  and  can  be  cited  in  proof. 
Professor  Butler  adds  a  few  pleasant  details  about  Reichenau.  It 
was  founded  in  724,  earlier  than  any  neighboring  convent  except 
St.  Gall.  It  is  on  an  island  in  the  Lake  of  Constance,  whose 
lake-girt  limits  are  about  two  miles  by  three.  It  became  so  rich 
that  it  acquired  many  other  properties,  and.  its  abbot  could  journey 
to  Rome  and  never  sleep  a  night  outside  of  his  own  domain. 
The  old  tower,  built  by  Henry  the  Black,  is  still  standing,  and 
among  the  cherished  relics  of  the  abbey  is  a  piece  of  green  glass 
weighing  twenty-eight  pounds  given  by  Charlemagne,  who  thought 
it  to  be  an  emerald.  There  is  also  a  supposititious  water- pot  from 
Cana  of  Galilee,  which  evidently  came  from  Palestine  and  shows 
the  mediaeval  intercourse  with  the  Holy  Land.  The  revenues  of 
the  abbey  were  not  sequestrated  until  the  year  1799.  Such  is  a 
brief  sketch  of  this  religious  house  which  we  shall  again  encounter 
in  the  story  of  Hermannus  Contractus. 

Walafrid's  narrative  begins  with  the  year  815.  He  saw  the  vast 
buildings  with  surprise  and  was  greeted  by  a  throng  of  future 
schoolmates.  His  teacher  had  several  boys  under  his  care  to  teach 
them  to  read.  This  he  did  by  the  help  of  a  wax  tablet — the  old 
Roman  method.  The  letters  were  scratched  on  the  wax  and 
erased  by  the  blunt  end  of  the  pointed  "  style."  Along  with  this 
elementary  work  came  Latin,  together  with  a  German  primer — in 
both  of  which  the  boys  were  expected  to  read. 

At  harvest  time  there  was  a  short  vacation.  The  boys  rambled 
through  the  fields  and  picked  fruit  and  enjoyed  themselves 
generally. 

The  second  year's  work  was  the  learning  of  conversational  Latin. 
This  was  the  language  of  daily  intercourse  and  was  employed  to 
express  all  wants.  The  grammar  of  Donatus  was  studied  under  a 
pupil-teacher,  and  the  cases  and  tenses  were  rigidly  committed  to 
memory.  The  rod  was  the  penalty  for  misbehavior.  German 
phrases  were  translated  into  Latin  and  some  portion  of  biblical 
history  was  repeated  to  the  scholars  at  night,  which  they  were 
obliged  to  tell  again  in  the  morning. 

Then  follows  a  description  of  the  dedication  of  the  minster  and 
of  the  solemn  effect  of  the  great  High  Mass,  at  which  time  Wala 
frid  resolves  to  become  a  monk. 

The  year  817  was  occupied  with  grammar  and  orthography,  and 


WALAFRID    STRABO.  147 

the  use  of  Latin  was  compulsory.  Hitherto  there  had  been  a 
trifle  of  laxity  and  a  few  lapses  into  German  were  forgiven.  Now 
there  was  no  exception  to  scholars  of  this  advancement.  They 
wrote  from  dictation  upon  their  tablets,  and  the  Psalter  was  in  this 
manner  transcribed  and  memorized. 

The  fourth  year  (818)  was  signalized  by  the  planting  of  the  first 
grape-vine  on  the  island.  Doubtless  the  fact  itself  is  authentic, 
and  is  here  introduced  owing  to  its  date.  And  in  this  year  the 
scholars  attack  prosody.  They  study  Alcuin  (who  wrote  many 
verses),  and  the  distichs  of  Cato,  and  Bede's  De  Arie  Metrica. 
The  earlier  Christian  poets — Prosper  and  Juvencus  and  Sedulius — 
are  mentioned.  It  is  strange  that  the  author  does  not  name  Pru- 
dentius,  who  was  far  more  of  a  classic  than  any  or  all  of  these 
three.  But  it  is  quite  correct  to  mention  Virgil  as  a  permitted 
book,  and  the  exercises  in  poetry  in  which  all  were  engaged. 

In  8 1 9,  the  fifth  year,  the  boys  became  pupil-teachers  themselves. 
They  were  further  instructed  in  rhetoric,  with  illustrations  from 
the  Bible  to  be  paralleled  from  Statius  and  Lucan,  whose  works 
they  were  studying.  Other  scholars  again  were  set  to  work  as 
scribes  and  copyists.  The  amusements  were  the  running  of  foot 
races,  quarter-staff  playing,  and  "dice,"  by  which  we  are  prob 
ably  to  understand  the  very  ancient  game  of  backgammon.  And 
again,  it  is  strange  that  no  mention  is  made  of  the  games  of  ball, 
which  were  decidedly  common  in  those  days. 

The  year  820  is  consumed  with  rhetoric — with  Cicero,  Quin- 
tilian,  and  the  histories  of  Bede,  Eusebius,  Jerome,  and  others. 
The  classic  authors  were  Sallust  and  Livy,  with  Virgil  and  (at  last) 
Prudentius  and  Fortunatus. 

In  821  comes  Boethius,  attended  by  more  of  Cassiodorus,  and 
the  pleasant  pastime  of  "dialectics,"  or  debating.  In  these 
debates  the  enthusiasm  was  kindled  for  future  controversies.  And 
in  other  lines — as,  for  example,  in  studies  of  the  current  legal 
codes,  of  the  Salic  and  Ripuarian  Franks  and  Lombards — those 
who  were  to  be  rulers  were  diligently  trained.  Here  (for  this  is 
the  exact  account  of  that  ancient  instruction)  we  see  how  the 
Church  held  sway  over  her  former  pupils,  and  how  the  pupils 
became  by  and  by  the  exponents  of  religious  opinions  and  sub 
servient  to  ecclesiastical  decrees. 

With  822  we  have  mention  of  rhetoric  and  logic,  with  oral  and 


148  LATIN  HYMNS. 

written  exercises,  and  in  823  the  scholars  took  up  and  pursued 
the  studies  of  geometry  and  geography  according  to  the  light  of 
that  period.  Then  came  music  with  the  various  instruments,  as 
organ,  harp,  flute,  or  trombone.  Finally,  Walafrid  is  supposed 
to  record  his  initiation  into  the  reading  of  Greek.  From  the  MS. 
of  Homer  the  boys  were  instructed,  and  the  account  closes  ab 
ruptly  with  a  reference  to  the  study  of  astronomy. 

Subsequent  to  this  year,  825,  Walafrid  is  believed  to  have  passed 
considerable  time  at  Fulda  with  Rabanus  Maurus. 

These  were  the  ideas  and  educational  methods  of  that  period. 
Outside  of  the  monasteries  and  abbeys  there  was  nothing  that 
went  on  in  the  way  of  learning.  It  needed  special  establish 
ments,  with  great  wealth,  the  protection  of  kings  and  nobles,  and 
the  indefinable  terrors  of  religious  authority  to  perpetuate  scholar 
ship.  We  may  despise,  as  some  writers  freely  do  despise,  the 
bigotry  and  intolerance  which  obliterated  fine  manuscripts  of  the 
classics  to  make  room  for  monkish  trifles.  But  we  cannot  fail  to 
discover  the  germs  of  the  new  poetry  of  the  Church  in  these  un 
promising  times.  Fortunatus  and  Prudentius  were  no  bad  pre 
ceptors  after  all.  And  even  if  Walafrid  Strabo  was  not  much  of  a 
poet,  he  has  served  our  occasion  as  a  pupil  when  he  might  not 
have  gained  notice  as  a  writer  of  hymns. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

HERMANNUS   CONTRACTUS  AND  THE   "  VENI  SANCTE  SPIRITUS.  " 

ONE  of  the  surprises  of  history  is  the  long-delayed  honor  which 
comes  to  the  modest  and  the  meek.  The  notable  and  prominent 
attract  to  themselves  much  of  the  repute  of  any  age.  They  even 
gain  the  credit  of  achievements  to  which  they  never  put  a  finger. 
But  by  and  by  the  "  whirligig  of  time  brings  in  his  revenges," 
and  they  that  were  last  become  first 

Thoughts  like  these  are  sure  to  come  to  us  when  we  encounter 
such  a  name  as  this  of  the  poor  cripple  of  Reichenau.  Whatever 
fame  he  had  in  his  own  day  gradually  disappeared  and  he  has 
been  only  a  shadowy  figure  for  many  years.  It  is  true  that  Ersch 
and  Gruber,  in  their  great  encyclopaedia,  say  of  him  that  he  is 
' '  one  of  the  most  meritorious  men  of  the  eleventh  century. "  It  is 
also  true  that  Ussermann — himself  an  almost  forgotten  authority 
— has  labored  to  give  Hermann  his  proper  meed  of  praise  ;  and 
that  the  Benedictines  have  patiently  collated  many  little  particulars 
concerning  him.  Yet  he  still  remains  locked  up  in  Latin  or  in 
German  or  in  French  ;  and  English  readers  can  be  pardoned  for 
being  utterly  ignorant  of  him  and  of  his  works. 

This  man  merits  no  small  share  of  our  notice.  He  came  of 
good  blood,  for  his  father  was  the  Count  of  Vohringen  in  Suabia. 
He  traced  his  kinship  to  the  famous  St.  Udalric,  whose  sister, 
named  Leutgarde,  is  mentioned  (971)  in  the  saintly  bishop's 
pages.  Her  son  was  Reginbald,  slain  in  battle  against  the  Hun 
garians  in  955.  This  Reginbald  had  a  daughter  Bertha,  who  mar 
ried  Wolfrad,  Count  of  Vohringen,  and  died  in  1032.  Wolfrad, 
dying  in  1010,  had  a  son  Wolfrad,  who  married  a  lady  named 
Hiltrude  and  became  the  father  of  fifteen  children — one  of  whom 
was  Hermann.  This  is  the  simplest  form  of  a  genealogy,  which 
the  learned  chronicler  protracts  in  a  marvellous  manner,  to  the 
great  confusion  of  the  modern  mind.  I  have  not  cared  to  follow 
him  into  the  remoter  affinities  and  alliances  which  add  distinction 


150  LATIN  HYMNS. 

to  the  poor  little  paralytic  child,  who  at  seven  years  of  age  was 
carried  to  the  great  school  at  St.  Gall. 

I  have  said  that  Hermann  was  a  cripple.  He  was  so  completely 
helpless,  indeed,  that  he  could  not  move  without  assistance  ;  and 
his  days  and  nights  were  full  of  pain.  He  was  "  hump-backed 
and  bow-breasted,  crippled  and  lame."  (Gibosus  ante  et  retro,  ct 
coniractus,  claudus.  Pertz  :  Monumenta  :  Scripiores  :  V. ,  268.) 
But  his  mind  triumphed  over  Ihese  infirmities.  A  pathetic  legend 
concerning  him  assures  us  that  in  the  visions  of  the  night  the 
Virgin  stood  before  him,  radiant  and  beautiful.  As  in  the  old 
story  about  the  choice  of  Hercules — which  was  probably  the  origin 
of  this — she  offers  him  strength  of  body  combined  with  ignorance 
and  weakness  of  mind  ;  or  wisdom  and  ability  in  a  body  which 
should  be  deficient  and  sickly  to  the  day  of  his  death.  This 
"second  Hercules" — as  the  chronicler  admiringly  calls  him — 
promptly  chose  the  last. 

He  had  been  born  (for  his  ancestral  records  and  his  own  Chroni- 
con  help  us  to  exactness)  on  July  i8th,  1013.  He  was  admitted 
to  school,  probably,  though  not  certainly,  at  St.  Gall,  on  Sep 
tember  1 5th,  1020.  Hitherto  his  education  had  been  absolutely 
neglected.  He  could  not  go  about  alone  nor  even  speak  intel 
ligibly  (Annales  Augustani  [1042-55].  In  Pertz  :  Mon.  Ger., 
VII.,  126)  owing  to  his  paralysis.  But  he  had  a  devouring  desire 
for  knowledge,  and  rapidly  mastered  Latin,  Greek,  Arabic,  and 
(probably)  Hebrew,  so  that  he  possessed  them  equally  well  with 
his  vernacular  speech.  The  convent  was  the  only  place  for  such  a 
poor  little  waif  as  he,  and  thus,  within  the  learned  cloisters  of  St. 
Gall,  he  followed  reverently  upon  the  shining  path  of  Notker  and 
Tutilo  and  Ratpert  and  Hartmann,  and  added  his  name  to  theirs 
in  the  development  of  the  sequences  and  antiphons  of  the 
Church. 

Nor  was  this  all.  He  became  an  excellent  historian,  a  distin 
guished  musician,  and  a  renowned  philosopher  and  theologian. 
In  mathematics  he  was  equally  skilled  and  ingenious.  He  is  con 
sidered  by  some  to  have  invented  the  astrolabe,  the  first  instrument 
by  which  the  height  and  distances  of  stars  were  calculated.  As 
suredly  he  wrote  an  exhaustive  treatise  upon  its  use,  whether  he 
originated  it  or  not ;  and  it  is  said  that  he  added  to  his  scientific 
studies  the  making  of  clocks  and  watches.  He  has  left  us  essays 


HERMANNUS  CONTRACTUS.  151 

upon  the  monochord,  on  the  squaring  of  the  circle,  on  computa 
tion  and  physiognomy  and  metrical  rules  and  astronomy.  These 
are  marked  by  the  inferior  attainments  of  the  age,  as  we  might  ex 
pect,  but  they  display  an  amount  of  original  research  for  which 
we  are  unprepared. 

He  was  also  an  excellent  scribe,  and  the  library  of  St.  Gall  still 
contains  a  copy  of  a  work  ascribed  to  Anselm  of  Canterbury 
written  by  him  in  the  fulfilment  of  a  vow.  He  resembled  the 
Venerable  Bede  in  the  universality  of  his  knowledge,  and,  like 
Alcuin  and  Rabanus  Maurus,  he  is  one  of  the  great  teachers  of  his 
time.  Always,  during  these  darkening  years,  there  appears  to 
have  been  some  ministering  priest  in  the  temple  of  education — 
some  self  devoted,  God-fearing  man,  who  patiently  kept  the  altar- 
fire  burning,  and  spent  his  life,  to  the  utmost  verge,  in  climbing 
those  altar-steps  with  fresh  fuel  for  the  flame. 

We  do  not  know  how  much  of  this  work  was  begun  or  com 
pleted  during  his  life  at  Sc.  Gall.  We  are  able  to  say  that  he 
translated  Aristotle's  Poetics  and  Rhetoric  from  the  Arabic  lan 
guage,  and  this  of  itself  should  award  to  him  the  very  highest  re 
nown.  It  is  impossible  in  a  single  sentence  to  do  justice  to  this 
achievement  and  we  must  take  it  more  at  large. 

The  dictator  Sylla  brought  the  works  of  the  great  Greek  phil 
osopher,  together  with  his  library,  to  Rome,  in  the  year  B.C. 
147.  This  was  on  the  capture  of  Athens,  and  these  writings  were 
still  comparatively  unknown  in  Greece.  The  philosophy  of  the 
Peripatetic  school  was,  of  course,  familiar  to  their  countrymen  ;  but 
it  was  by  and  through  the  Latin  race  and  not  the  Greek,  that  the 
"  Master  of  Syllogisms"  was  to  become  most  potent.  Aristotle's 
was  the  controlling  system  of  the  Middle  Ages.  His  rules  of 
logic  were  imperative.  They  governed  theology,  and  indeed 
every  other  form  of  metaphysics.  They  restrained  with  an  iron 
grip  the  expanding  ideas  of  men.  It  was  against  Aristotle,  in  the 
person  of  William  of  Champeaux,  future  Bishop  of  Chalons  and 
founder  of  the  school  of  St.  Victor,  that  Peter  Abelard  laid  his- 
lance  in  rest.  Even  to  the  days  of  Dean  Swift  these  ideas  bore 
sway,  and  when  that  brilliant  man  sought  his  degree  from  Trinity 
College,  Dublin,  he  was  met  by  the  question  whether  he  reasoned 
according  to  Aristotle.  And  his  reply,  that  he  did  well  enough  in 
his  own  fashion,  was  held  to  be  little  less  than  atheism.  Nor  is 


152  LA  TIN  H  YMNS. 

this  the  only  comparison  which  might  be  aptly  instituted  between 
Swift  and  Abelard. 

So  Aristotle  had  his  authority  and  held  his  sceptre  down  almost 
to  our  own  time.  But  at  the  commencement  his  writings  were 
either  used  in  the  Greek  language  or  in  the  Arabic.  In  the  twelfth 
century  the  schools  of  the  Moors  in  Spain  were  the  true  centre 
of  philosophy.  They  first  applied  his  teachings  to  theology,  and 
to  these  schools  resorted  many  scholars  from  other  parts  of  the 
continent.  But  such  translations  as  these  travelling  students 
brought  home  were  probably  of  a  sort  to  make  intricacy  and 
subtlety  more  intricate  and  subtle.  A  fog  had  gathered  over 
Europe,  and  the  Dark  Ages  are  indeed  no  myth.  There  were  few 
points  of  light  anywhere,  and  among  these  few  were  the  bright 
spots  called  St.  Gall  and  Reichenau. 

Charles  Jourdain  asserts  that  only  a  part  of  Aristotle  was  known 
before  1200  A.D.,  and  that  this  was  through  the  translation  of 
Boethius.  (See  Ueberweg  :  Hist.  Philos.,  I.,  367.)  So  that  if 
Hermannus  Contractus  translated  Aristotle  at  so  early  a  date,  it 
shows  that  his  rendering  was  in  advance  of  most,  if  not  of  nearly 
all  those  which  were  used  in  the  Western  schools.  He  had  a 
brother,  or  uncle,  Manegold,  who  died  in  Palestine.  He  had 
another  brother  Werner,  who  afterward  became  a  legate  to 
Gregory  VII.  (Hildebrand)  in  the  fierce  struggle  between  Pope 
and  Emperor  in  1077.  And  he  was  further  well  placed  both  by 
his  family  connections  and  his  situation  at  a  centre  of  learning,  to 
secure  the  best  manuscripts  and  the  best  Arabic  instruction.  (See 
an  elaborate  dissertation  in  Wegelin  :  Thes.  Rerum  Suevicarum, 
II.,  p.  1 20. )  It  evinces  decided  wisdom  and  toil  on  his  part  to 
have  undertaken  and  completed  this  translation  ;  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  humble  paralytic  from  his  bed  of  suffering  influ 
enced  materially  the  scholastic  movements  of  the  coming  centuries. 
Could  he  have  seen  the  swarming  thousands  who  built  the  abbey 
of  the  Paraclete  ;  could  he  have  witnessed  in  vision  the  uprising 
of  such  schools  as  St.  Victor  in  France  and  Oxford  in  England  ; 
could  he  have  heard  Roger  Bacon  confess  his  indebtedness  to 
those  pages  ;  could  he  have  foreseen  the  infinite  consequences 
both  to  the  preservation  and  the  hindrance  of  human  thought, 
with  what  strange  zeal  he  would  have  traced  each  painful  line  ! 

But  he  could  not  know  it.      He  had  removed  at  thirty  years  of 


HERMANNUS  CONTRACTUS.  153 

age  to  his  perpetual  celibacy  at  Reichenau — Augia  the  Rich,  as 
it  is  called  in  the  Latin  tongue.  It  is  built  on  an  island  in  the 
western  arm  of  the  Lake  of  Constance.  And  there,  with  great 
mountains  to  gaze  upon  and  fair  waters  to  catch  for  him  the  rosy 
light  of  evening  ;  with  the  brethren  of  the  convent  laboring  cheer 
fully  in  their  fields  or  toiling  in  their  cells,  Hermann  of  Vohringen, 
Hermann  of  Reichenau,  Hermannus  Contractus,  Hermann  der 
Gebrechliche,  Hermann  the  Cripple,  spent  his  uneventful  life. 

Here  he  wrote  the  legends  of  some  of  the  saints,  and  here  he 
prepared  his  valuable  compendium  of  universal  history.  He  calls 
it  a  Chronicon,  and  condensed  into  its  records  the  story  of  the 
world  from  A.D.  i  to  the  year  1054,  the  date  of  his  own  death.  It 
is  very  brief  through  the  first  portion  of  its  account  of  "  the  Six 
Ages."  Then  its  statements  are  fuller.  When  it  reaches  con 
temporaneous  events  it  becomes  exceedingly  important  to  the  his 
torical  student,  for  it  is  in  the  nature  of  a  chronicle.  Here  also 
the  man's  own  personality  occasionally  appears.  He  speaks  of 
Reichenau  as  Augia  nosira  and  mentions  the  basilica  which  Henry 
III.  ("the  Black")  has  erected  to  "  our  patron,  St.  Mark  the 
Evangelist."  This  establishes  the  fact  that  Reichenau  was  his 
true  residence,  and  gives  us  the  standpoint  of  the  little  isle  in 
Lake  from  which  to  look  out  across  the  dark-green  and  some 
times  stormy  waters  upon  the  confusions  of  the  time.  These  were 
the  days  when  the  Truce  of  God  (1041  A.D.)  was  necessary  in 
order  to  prevent  the  bloody  feuds  of  the  barons  during  Advent, 
Lent,  and  from  Wednesday  evening  of  each  week  until  the  follow 
ing  Monday  morning.  Yet  amid  all  these  conflicts  Hermann  the 
Paralytic  remained  secure,  guarded  by  religion  and  surrounded  by 
the  peaceful  lake.  And  like  that  lake  the  Rhine  stream  of  secular 
affairs  flowed  always  through  his  life  clear  and  undisturbed. 

It  is  during  these  closing  scenes  that  a  touching  entry  is  made 
in  the  pages  of  the  Chronicon,  Under  the  year  1052  the  crippled 
hand  slowly  traces  these  words  :  "At  the  same  time,  on  January 
9th,  my  mother  Hiltrude,  the  wife  of  the  Count  Wolfrad,  a 
pious,  meek,  generous,  and  religious  woman,  and  one  who  was  as 
devoted  to  and  happy  in  her  husband  and  her  seven  surviving 
children  as  any  person  could  be,  closed  the  last  day  of  her  life  in 
about  the  sixty-first  year  of  her  age  and  the  forty  fourth  of  her  mar 
riage,  and  was  buried  at  the  Villa  of  Altshausen,  in  a  sepulchre 


154  LA  TIN  H  YMNS. 

under  the  chapel  of  St.  Udalric  which  she  had  herself  constructed.  " 
And  then  follows  a  brief  poem  in  which  the  merits  and  the  love 
of  this  dear  mother  are  affectionately  told. 

Hermann,  on  the  best  of  testimony,  was  a  person  of  just  this 
amiable  and  beautiful  spirit.  He  is  called  hilarissimus ,  as  if  to 
show  his  great  cheerfulness.  He  was  always  a  strict  vegetarian  in 
his  diet.  He  hated  injustice  ;  scorned  every  sort  of  vice — and 
Heaven  alone  knows  how  much  there  then  was  of  nameless  wicked 
ness  ! — and  finally,  he  was  thoroughly  free  from  all  envy  and 
malice.  It  is  a  curious  testimony  to  his  breadth  of  mind  that  one 
of  his  biographers  says  of  him  (quoting  the  old  adage),  that  he 
regarded  nothing  human  as  alien  to  his  search. 

He  preserved  this  calmness  and  sweetness  of  temper  to  the 
farthest  limit  of  his  days.  Not  long  before  he  died  he  said  to  his 
faithful  friend,  Berthold  of  Constance,  "  Do  not,  I  say,  do  not 
ask  me  about  this  ;  but  rather  attend  to  what  I  will  tell  you,  for 
in  you  I  do  not  a  little  confide.  I  shall  die  doubtless  in  a  very 
short  time.  I  shall  not  live.  I  shall  not  get  well."  He  added 
that  he  was  so  "  seized  with  an  ineffable  desire  and  delight  toward 
that  intransitory  world  and  that  eternal  and  immortal  life,"  that 
all  things  of  this  passing  existence  seemed  empty  and  vain  and 
dropped  like  motes  (flocd}  from  him,  in  the  breath  of  that 
heavenly  air. 

And  then  he  proceeded  to  detail  a  vision  in  which  he  fancied 
himself  reading  and  rereading  the  Hortensius  of  Cicero.  His 
mind  was  clear  ;  his  hopes  for  religion  and  for  education  were 
high  ;  but  all  was  now  over  and  he  must  depart.  Therefore  he 
quietly  and  pathetically  ends  by  saying,  "  Taedet  quidem  mevivere" 
— indeed  it  is  wearisome  to  me  to  live.  And  thus,  on  September 
24th,  1054,  he  ceased  from  earth — in  his  forty-second  year,  and 
having  carried  the  story  of  the  world  down  to  the  end  of  his  own 
career. 

But  his  works  follow  him.  I  do  most  firmly  believe  him — and 
not  Robert  the  Second — to  have  been  the  author  of  the  Veni 
Sancle  Spirilus. 

The  first  person  to  attribute  this  hymn  to  the  King  of  France  is 
Durand,  (Rationale  Divinorum  Officiorum,  Lib.  IV.)  His  book 
treats  of  ceremonial  observances  and  is  among  the  rarest  of  printed 
volumes.  The  splendid  copy  upon  vellum  in  the  Astor  Library 


HERMANN  US   CONTRACTUS.  155 

is  not  only  beautiful  in  itself,  but  it  is  extremely  valuable  as  the 
third  specimen  of  typography  in  existence.  Only  two  works — one 
of  them  the  Bible  and  another  the  Psalter  of  Mainz — had  been 
previously  printed  from  movable  types.  I  have  personally  verified 
the  reference  and  its  English  rendering  is  as  follows  : 

"  Notker,  Abbot  of  St.  Gall,  in  Germany,  first  composed  sequences 
with  notes  of  his  own  in  the  Alleluia.  And  Nicholaus  the  Pope  [Nicholas 
II.,  1059-1061]  granted  that  they  should  be  sung  at  masses.  But  Htr- 
mannus  Contractus,  a  German,  inventor  of  the  astrolabe,  composed  these 
sequences:  Rex  omnipotcns  and  Saudi  Spiritus  and  Ave  Maria  and  the 
antiphons  Alma  redemptoris  mater  and  Simon  Barjonc.  Peter,  Bishop  of 
Compostella,  made  the  Salve  regina.  And  the  King  of  France,  Robert 
by  name,  composed  the  sequence,  V*eni  Sancte  Spiritus  and  the  hymn 
Chorus  novae  fJierusalem." 

It  is  hard  to  crowd  into  a  paragraph  more  errors  than  are  in  this. 
Notker  was  not  Abbot  of  St.  Gall.  Innocent  III.  was  very  severe 
upon  Udalric  of  St.  Gall,  because  such  a  spiritual  and  able  man 
had  lived  and  died  unhonored  among  them  ;  a  simple  monk 
whose  labors  and  death  received  no  special  attention  in  their 
religious  year. 

Nor  did  Hermann  write  the  Sancti  Spiritus  adsit ;  for  this,  on 
the  best  of  testimony,  was  Notker's.  It  was  so  sung  at  Rome 
under  Innocent  III.  ;  and  Ekkehard  the  Younger,  in  his  history 
of  Notker,  pointedly  claims  it  for  him. 

It  is  very  doubtful  whether  Hermann  invented  the  astrolabe  for 
measuring  the  distances  of  stars.  His  two  treatises  are  upon  its 
use,  and  he  is  evidently  very  familiar  with  it.  But  it  was  first 
made  serviceable  in  navigation  by  the  Portuguese — if  we  are  to 
believe  Evelyn  (in  his  Navigation) — and  the  study  of  astronomy 
was  greatly  cultivated  by  the  Arabic  schools  in  Spain  and  else 
where  about  this  period.  J.  A.  Fabricius  indeed  mentions  that 
the  astrolabe  was  "  commonly  employed  in  the  days  of  Ptolemy. " 

The  Ave  Maria  is  supposed  by  Koch  to  belong  to  the  thir 
teenth  century  and  some  have  ascribed  it  to  Adam  of  St.  Victor. 
It  is,  perhaps,  by  Heribert  of  Eichstettin  (died  1042).  Hermann 
wrote  the  Ave  praedara  man's  stella,  which  might  have  been  mis 
taken  for  this  other. 

.  The  Salve  regina  is  assigned  by  Durand  to  Peter  of  Compostella. 
Gerbert  names  several  possible  authors,  but  evidently  follows  the 


156  LATIN  HYMNS. 

leadership  of  Durand.  (De  Cantu,  etc.,  II.,  27.)  And  yet 
Trithemius,  with  every  really  critical  scholar,  credits  it  to  Her 
mann.  It  is  exhaustively  considered  by  Wegelin  and  definitely 
conceded  to  him.  (Thes.  Rerum  Suevicarum,  II.,  p.  120  ff.) 

Robert  the  Second  cannot  claim  the  Chorus  novae  Hierusalem. 
It  is  the  production  of  Fulbert  of  Chartres  (died  1029),  and  is 
included  without  question  in  every  complete  edition  of  his  works. 

Thus  the  absolute  authority  of  Durand  is  much  shaken.  He 
was  a  lawyer  in  the  thirteenth  century,  who  studied  at  Bologna  and 
taught  at  Modena  ;  a  legate  of  Pope  Martin  IV.  ;  dean  of  the 
church  at  Chartres,  and  Bishop  of  Mende.  The  fact  that  he  was 
dean  of  Chartres,  and  yet  ascribes  the  Chorus  Novae,  not  to  Fulbert 
but  to  Hermannus,  is  suggestive,  but  not  convincing. 

So  Durand  was  the  first  person  to  affix  the  name  of  Robert  II. 
to  the  Veni  Sancte.  Trithemius  comes  next  in  order  ;  the  Abbot 
of  Spanheim  ;  historian  and  scholar  ;  indefatigable  in  researches, 
but  erratic  and  prejudiced  ;  born  1462  and  dying  1516.  His  true 
name  is  Johann  von  Trittenheim  and  we  derive  this,  and  other 
information  about  authors  and  their  works,  from  his  Liber  de 
Scriptoribus  Ecclesiaslicis — a  biographical  dictionary  like  those  of 
Jerome,  Gennadius,  and  Isidore,  to  whose  works  he  really  furnishes 
an  Appendix.  Egon  (sometimes  known  as  Ego)  in  his  account  of 
Reichenau's  distinguished  men  (De  Viris  illustribus  Augiae  divilis, 
quoted  by  Fez  :  Thesaurus  Anecdolorum,  I.,  3  ;  68.  Cf.  Migne, 
143)  declares  that  Trithemius  was  "  unjustly  hostile  to  the  monks 
of  Reichenau"  in  asserting  that  "  our  Hermannus"  was  from  St. 
Gall,  when  even  Metzler  conceded,  on  behalf  of  his  own  convent, 
that  Hermann  had  changed  his  residence  from  St.  Gall  to 
Reichenau.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  positive  statement  of  Trithe- 
rnius,  which  gives  the  Veni  Sancte  to  Robert  II.  instead  of  to  Her 
mann,  has  been  generally  accepted.  Cardinal  Bona  (1677), 
Louis  Archon  (1704-11),  and  others  agree  with  him. 

But  there  is  a  break  in  the  continuity  of  faith.  Clichtove — 
an  authority  much  esteemed — expresses  no  opinion  about  the 
author  of  the  Veni  Sancte  further  than  to  say  quisquis  isfuerit — 
whoever  he  was. 

Rambach,  in  his  Anthology,  comes  now  to  the  rescue.  (Antho- 
logie,  I.,  227.)  He  says  it  is  " ganz  nnstreitig  von  Robert  j"  and- 
all  the  German  critics,  with  the  single  exception  of  Daniel,  havefol- 


HERMANNUS  CONTRACTUS.  157 

lowed  this  authority  blindly.  Whatever  the  Germans  said  has 
usually  been  enough  for  the  English.  Therefore  the  Veni  Sancte 
is  in  every  collection  attributed,  without  a  shadow  of  doubt,  to 
Robert  the  King. 

There  should  have  been  less  positiveness  about  this  if  the  accu 
rate  Daniel  had  been  noticed  more  carefully.  He  praises  the  lan 
guage  of  Clichtove,  who  says  that  the  author,  "  whoever  he 
was,"  must  have  been  "  inwardly  filled  with  light,"  and  he  itali 
cizes  the  quisquis  is  fuerit.  But  as  Robert,  with  only  three  others, 
appears  to  have  escaped  the  wreck  of  the  sequences  in  the  six 
teenth  century,  even  Daniel  allows  the  Veni  Sancte  to  him  ;  and 
Archbishop  Trench  finds  that  "  there  exists  no  good  reason  why 
we  should  question' '  that  Robert  wrote  it. 

We  may  dismiss  any  conjectures  about  Innocent  III.  having 
been  its  author,  although  great  efforts  have  been  made  to  credit 
this  hymn  to  his  pen.  Dom  Remy  Cellier  and  Migne  seem  the 
most  strongly  partisan,  but  their  remarks  and  references  are  weak. 
(Scrip/ores  Ecclesiastici,  vol.  xiii.,  p.  109,  note.  Also  Palrologta, 
141  ;  901.) 

A  sample  of  the  general  looseness  of  citation  can  be  found  in 
Kehrein  (No.  125),  who  announces  that  Gerbert  "  holds  Her- 
mannus  Contractus  to  be  the  author' '  of  the  Veni  Sancie.  Gerbert 
does  nothing  of  the  kind.  He  names  Hermann  with  others.  It 
is  quite  true,  though,  that  he  does  not  name  Robert. 

Setting  aside  Innocent  III.  for  cause — although  Brander  of 
St.  Gall,  in  his  Index  Sequentiarum,  grants  this  to  him — the  author 
ship  of  the  hymn  rests  between  the  king  and  the  monk.  I  say 
"  for  cause,"  since  Innocent  was  at  the  summit  of  temporal  power, 
and  his  position  was  a  very  tempting  one  to  posthumous  flattery. 
He  is  credited  with  the  Ave  mundi  spes  Mariae.  He  did  not  write 
the  Stabat  Mater,  nor  did  he  compose  the  Veni  Sancte.  Let  any 
one  examine  the  Avemundi  and  he  will  renounce  all  hope  that  the 
man  who  prepared  this  could  ever  have  written  the  others,  or 
either  of  them.  Besides,  Wrangham  is  likely  to  be  correct  when 
he  assigns  this  latter  sequence  to  Adam  of  St.  Victor.  It  is  pre 
cisely  in  Adam's  style  of  metrical  composition  ;  it  is  not  found 
before  the  fourteenth  century,  and  its  tone  is  modern.  It  can 
therefore  be  said  that  Innocent  deserves  no  place  among  the  Latin 
hymn-writers. 


158  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Now,  Robert  II.  is  much  in  the  same  condition  as  Innocent  III. 
His  is  a  shining  name  to  which  to  affix  popular  hymns.  He  has 
been  credited  with  the  Ave  marts  stella — the  parent  of  all  hymns 
to  the  Virgin.  The  sequence  Sancti  Spirilus  adsit  is  not  his,  on 
the  testimony  already  adduced  ;  but  in  the  year  1 1 10  the  "  ancient 
customs  of  Cluny,"  collected  by  St.  Udalric  (Hermann's  ancestor) 
gives  us  this  "  at  Pentecost"  (D'Achery  :  Spicilegium,  I.,  641), 
with  the  "  response,"  Spin/us  sanctus.  This  would  serve  to  show 
that  such  praise  to  the  Holy  Spirit  was  usual.  With  the  Chorus 
Novae  we  have  already  dealt.  And  the  Rex  omnipotens  belongs  to 
Hermann  though  it  is  ascribed  to  Robert — another  instance  of 
inaccuracy,  which  casts  a  ray  of  light  upon  the  present  problem. 

Those  sequences  of  which  Robert  was  the  possible  author  are 
printed  in  Migne's  Patrologia  (141,  959  jf.}.  Only  one  of  them 
merits  a  word  of  notice.  It  is  the  Te  hicis  auctor  personent. 
Daniel  assigns  this  to  the  fourteenth  or  fifteenth  century,  but 
Mone  and  Koch  to  the  fifth.  These  last  are  probably  right.  It 
is  early  found  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  Church  and  is  among  the  old 
Vatican  MSS.  and  the  hymns  collected  by  G.  Cassander.  It  is 
scarcely  possible  that  it  comes  down  as  late  as  the  eleventh  cen 
tury. 

Robert's  other  sequences  are  six  in  number  and  of  no  impor 
tance.  His  personal  history  is  pathetic  enough.  He  was  the  son 
of  Hugh  Capet  ;  born  at  Orleans  in  970  and  died  at  Melun,  July 
2Oth,  1031,  having  been  sole  king  since  996,  though  he  had  been 
crowned  in  988.  His  first  wife  was  Susanne,  an  Italian  princess  ; 
and  we  learn  from  his  contemporary,  Richer  of  Rheims,  that  one 
of  his  first  public  acts  was  to  repudiate  her  on  the  plea  that  she 
was  too  old  for  him,  and  that  he  refused  to  restore  her  dowry. 
His  next  marriage  was  with  his  distant  cousin  Bertha — a  cousin 
four  times  removed — the  widow  of  the  Count  of  Blois.  This 
marriage  was  inconvenient  to  the  Emperor  Otho,  as  it  would  have 
brought  the  House  of  Capet  into  the  line  of  succession  to  certain 
lordships  in  the  old  Kingdom  of  Burgundy.  So  Pope  Gregory 
V.,  the  kinsman  of  Otho,  required  Robert  to  give  up  Bertha,  not 
because  Susanne  was  still  alive,  but  because  the  Church  forbade 
the  marriage  of  cousins  in  even  the  fourth  degree.  At  first  Robert 
refused,  but  when  his  kingdom  was  laid  under  an  interdict,  he 
showed  as  little  manhood  in  standing  bv  his  second  wife  as  he  had 


HERMANNUS  CONTRACTUS.  159 

shown  humanity  and  justice  to  his  first.  Such  a  ban  was  too 
severe  to  be  borne  and  the  king  yielded,  though  Baronius  says  he 
tried  to  take  back  his  wife  Bertha  in  spite  of  it  all.  His  life  and 
kingship  belong  to  French  history,  and  can  be  found  there.  His 
disposition  was  that  of  a  monk  and  not  of  a  monarch.  He 
founded  four  monasteries  and  built  seven  churches.  He  sup 
ported  three  hundred  paupers  entirely  and  a  thousand  in  part. 
His  reign  lasted — thanks  to  ecclesiastical  influence — for  thirty-four 
years.  It  was  troubled  and  not  especially  pleasant ;  and  for  his 
third  wife  the  king  had  married  the  handsome  shrew  Constance, 
the  daughter  of  William  Count  of  Aries.  Pious  and  excellent 
man  that  he  is  reputed  to  have  been,  he  had  a  natural  son, 
Amauri,  who  was  great-great-grandfather  to  Simon  de  MontforL 
Truly,  wh«n  all  is  said  and  done,  Robert  II.  is  hardly  the  author 
in  whom  we  would  like  to  believe  with  all  our  hearts  when  we 

sing— 

"  Holy  Spirit,  come  and  shine 
Sweetly  in  this  heart  of  mine." 

Per  contra,  Hermann  of  Reichenau  grows  more  interesting  the 
more  he  is  studied.  He  has  been  so  unfortunate  as  to  be  con 
fused  with  other  persons  in  two  or  three  cases.  By  Brander  he  is 
identified  with  Hartmann  of  St.  Gall,  and  the  sequence  Rex  omni- 
potens  is  taken  from  him.*  The  pretty  little  sequence,  Veni 
Sancte  Spiritus  et  reple,  which  Konigsfeld  thinks  to  be  his,  is 
doubtless  no  earlier  than  the  fourteenth  century  and  by  some 
anonymous  composer  who  has  merely  imitated  the  great  masters. 

Beside  the  Rex  omnipotens  he  composed  the  Ave praeclara  man's 
stella,  where  his  name  gains  another  misprint  and  becomes  "  Hein- 
ricus,  monachus  San  Gallensis."  This  poem  was  thought  worthy 
of  the  authorship  of  Albertus  Magnus  (Albert  von  Regensburg), 
and  to  him  accordingly  Wackernagel  and  Koch  credit  it.  Mone 
has  vindicated  the  claim  of  Hermann  which  is  set  forth  in  Migne. 
(Patrologia,  143  ;  20^!)  So  that  we  are  again  sure  of  a  piece 
which  has  been  meritorious  enough  to  be  coveted. 

Then  comes  the  antiphon  Simon  Barjona,  which  Du  Meril  calls 


*  The  full  inquiry  can  be  pursued  through  Dan.  V.,  66  and  II.,  181  ; 
Neale,  Sfquentiae,  p.  58  ;  Du  Meril,  Poesies  Populaires,  p.  380,  in  Pear 
son's  Sarum  Sequences,  and  in  Kehrein. 


160  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Simon  Baronia  and  of  which  no  trace  remains.  Two  other 
sequences  are,  however,  extant,  and  are  beyond  any  question  or 
debate.  They  are  the  Salve  regina,  which  Daniel  calls  a  "  most 
celebrated  antiphon, ' '  and  the  Alma  redemptoris  mater,  the  refrain 
of  which  Chaucer  used  in  that  "  Prioress's  Tale,"  which  Words 
worth  has  modernized. 

In  addition  we  must  observe  that  the  Veni  Sancte  is  attributed 
to  Hermann  simultaneously  and  by  the  same  authority  as  that 
which  credits  him  with  the  other  sequences.  Two  pieces —  Vox 
haec  melos  pangat  and  Grains  honos  hierarchia — are  lost.  But  the 
Salve  regina  was  worth  contending  for  ;  and  Gerbert  names  Gregory 
II.,  Peter  of  Compostella,  St.  Bernard,  and  "  Adhemar,  Episcopus 
Podiensis"  (Bishop  of  Puy  and  his  own  candidate)  together  with  * 
Hermannus  Contractus.  Nevertheless,  Trithemius,  Gerbert,  and, 
indeed,  everybody  are  heard  to  declare  that  Hermann  was  "  the 
marvel  of  the  age,"  the  best  man  of  his  time  in  music  and  the 
author  of  a  work  on  metrical  rules.  He  is  known  as-  Doctor 
Egregius,  and  it  is  beyond  any  peradventure  that  he  was  capable 
of  writing  the  Veni  Sancte. 

The  only  arguments  that  are  employed  to  prove  that  Robert 
was  the  author  are  very  weak.  The  first  is  that  there  was  no 
sufficient  competitor.  But  surely  Hermannus  Contractus  is  now 
a  competitor  of  real  merit  and  importance.  Then,  too,  the  king 
was  a  kind  of  religious  pet,  and  such  persons  receive  more  than 
their  due.  But  the  second  argument  is  weaker  still.  It  amounts 
in  brief  to  the  harmony  displayed  in  the  poem  between  the  king's 
life  and  his  lovely  verses.  It  strikes  one,  however,  that  an  invalid 
like  Hermann  might  have  had  fully  as  deep  a  religious  experience 
as  any  such  king.  Moreover — and  this  is  a  vital  fact — the  Veni 
Sancte  is  found  in  the  German  hymnaries  almost  exclusively. 
This  point  was  insisted  upon  in  the  controversy  about  the  Veni, 
Creator;  and  Charles  the  Great  in  this  respect  had  the  advantage  over 
Gregory  the  Great,  until  the  claim  of  Rabanus  Maurus,  another 
German,  was  thoroughly  examined.  But  among  all  the  sources 
carefully  edited  by  Kehrein  from  Daniel,  Mone,  and  elsewhere, 
the  French  collections  do  not  present  themselves.  On  the  con 
trary,  in  this  elaborate  list  we  find  St.  Gall,  Kreuzlingen,  Freiburg, 
Karlsruhe,  Mainz,  Ebersberg,  Rome  (1481),  Venice  (1497),  with 
later  examples  printed  at  Cologne,  Prague,  Eichstettin,  Lubeck, 


HER  Af ANN  US   CONTRACTUS.  161 

and  Basel.  Brander  also  found  the  hymn  in  the  earliest  codices 
of  the  three  great  neighboring  cloisters  of  St.  Gall,  Einsiedeln,  and 
Reichenau.  Meanwhile  the  only  notice  of  it  in  France  comes 
from  the  Paris  Breviary,  which  is  of  recent  date. 

There  is  but  one  consideration  further.  I  trust  that  I  have 
established  the  perfect  possibility  that  Hermannus  Contractus 
might  have  been  the  author  equally  as  well  as  Robert.  The  men 
lived  in  the  same  period  to  which,  on  the  testimony  of  the  best 
critics,  the  hymn  is  considered  to  belong.  They  were  alike  in 
possibilities  of  Christian  experience  and  of  musical  and  poetical 
temperament.  But  here  they  begin  to  diverge  ;  and  the  prefer 
ence  is  decidedly  in  favor  of  Hermann,  whose  hymn  is  found  in 
the  three  oldest  codices  of  his  own  neighborhood  ;  of  St.  Gall, 
where  he  studied  ;  of  Einsiedeln,  where  it  is  possible  that  he  was  a 
resident ;  and  of  Reichenau,  where  he  certainly  lived  from  the  age 
of  thirty  until  his  death.  He  could  scarcely  have  gone  about  very 
much  in  his  helpless  and  crippled  condition  ;  and  these  three 
conventual  establishments  are  within  a  moderate  distance  of  each 
other.  From  his  seventh  year  he  was  to  be  discovered  always 
somewhere  in  that  vicinity,  and  the  historians  of  St.  Gall  and  of 
Reichenau  positively  claim  the  Veni  Sancte  as  his. 

It  is  only  left  for  us  to  lay  the  Salve  regina  side  by  side  with  the 
Veni  Sancte.     A  man  who  wrote  upon  metre  ought  to  possess 
some  excellence  in  the  art  of  which  he  wrote,  and  these  pieces 
placed  together  display  a  graceful  and  ingenious  versification  which 
is  not  at  all  usual  in  that  century.     It  is  not  claimed  that  either 
Robert  or  Hermann  wrote  other  hymns  in  the  identical  stanza 
form  of  the  Veni  Sancte.     Therefore  nothing  is  available  for  direct 
comparison.     But  as  to  the  spirit  of  each  there  can  be   no   de 
bate.     Robert  never  composed  anything  else  like  the  Veni  Sanc/et 
and  it  certainly  seems  as  if  Hermann   did  compose  a  sequence 
which  bears  a  passing  resemblance  ;  and  which  I  have  endeavored 
to  translate  with  its  occasional  rhymes  and  assonances  : 
Salve  regina.  mater  misericordiae 
Vita,  dulcedo  et  spes  nostra,  salve. 
Ad  te  clamamus  exules  filii  Hevae. 

Ad  te  suspiramus  gementes  et  flentes  in  hac  lacrimarum  valle. 
Eia  ergo  advocata  nostra,  illos  tuos  misericordes  oculos  ad  nos  converte 
Et  Jesum  benedictum  fructum  ventris  tui  nobis  post  hoc  exilium  ostende. 
O  clemens,  O  pia,  O  dulcis  virgo  Maria. 


1 62  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Hail  O  queen,  mother  of  pitifulness  ! 

Life  and  delight  and  our  confidence,  hail  ! 

To  thee  we  exiles,  children  of  Eve,  are  crying. 

To  thee  we  aspire,  groaning  and  moaning  in  this  the  vale  of  our  sorrow. 

Lo,  thou  therefore,  our  advocate,  turn  upon  us  those  pitiful  eyes  of  thine, 

And  after  this  exile  show  us  Jesus,  the  blessed  fruit  of  thy  womb, 

O  merciful,  O  pious,  O  sweet  Virgin  Maria. 

This  is  another  of  his  sequences,  the  Rex  regum  Deiagne,  found 
by  Brander  among  the  antiquities  of  St.  Gall  : 

King  of  kings,  Lamb  of  God,  mighty  Lion  of  Judah, 

The  death  of  sin  by  the  merit  of  the  cross  and  the  life  of  justice  ;  giving 
the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  life  for  the  taste  of  wisdom  ;  the  medicine  of 
grace  for  the  loss  of  glory, 

Since  thy  blood  restrained  the  might  of  the  sword  of  flame,  opening  the 
garden  of  paradise,  the  seed  of  obedience,  the  medicine  of  grace. 

This  day  is  illustrious  to  the  Lord  ;  peace  is  on  the  earth,  lightning  to  the 
shades  below  and  light  to  the  saints  above  ;  the  day  of  the  double  bap 
tism  of  law  and  gospel. 

Christ  is  the  passover  to  man  ;  while  the  old  passes  the  new  arises  ; 
rejoice  my  heart,  freed  from  ferment,  full  of  the  bread  unleavened. 

Since  the  enemy  are  overwhelmed,  with  stained  door-posts  eat  the  sacrifice 
on  the  paschal  night,  at  home,  with  the  bitter  herb  of  the  field, 

Let  your  loins  be  girt  and  your  shoes  bound  on,  have  the  staff  in  the  hand, 
and  eat  the  head  with  the  legs  and  the  purtenance  thereof. 

Wash  us  this  day,  O  Christ,  cleansing  us  with  hyssop  ;  and  make  us 
worthy  of  this  mystery,  drying  the  sea,  boring  the  jaw  of  Leviathan 
with  a  mighty  hook. 

Rejoice  us  with  the  cup  and  fill  us  ;  arouse  us,  drinking  from  the  brook 
in  the  way,  thou  our  propitiation,  thou  priest  and  sacrifice,  thou  wine 
press  and  stone  of  offence  and  grape  ! 

O  fragrant  flower  of  the  virgin  rod, 

O  light  full  of  sevenfold  dew, 

Fairer  in  beauty  than  the  juice  of  the  grape, 

The  blush  of  the  rose,  the  candor  of  the  lily. 

How  earnest  thou  with  such  pity  to  bend  to  the  help  of  this  little  world  ; 
that  thou  mightest  share  our  sorrows  and  be  our  Redeemer  from  the 
birthmark  of  sin,  bearing  the  curse  of  sin  ? 

O  Lord,  Kinsman  of  thy  servants, 

The  hope  of  the  first  and  of  the  last  resurrection, 


HERMANNUS   CONTRACTUS. 


Confirm  thy  covenant  to  the  seed  of  Abraham,  and  us,  O  Leader  im 
mortal,  reviving  with  thyself,  who  are  dead  with  thee  to  our  old  father 
Adam,  strengthen,  joining  us  to  thy  mightier  members. 

Give  us  the  paschal  feast  of  the  life  eternal,  thou  Paschal  Lamb  ! 

The  question  before  us  is  not  one  of  theology  but  of  literature. 
Did  the  man  who  wrote  those  verses  write  these  also  ? — 


Veni,  Sancte  Spiritus, 
Et  emitte  coelitus 
Lucis  tuae  radium. 
Veni,  pater  pauperum, 
Veni,  dator  munerum, 
Veni,  lumen  cordium  ; 

Consolator  optime, 
Dulcis  hospes  animae, 
Dulce  refrigerium : 
In  labore  requies, 
In  aestu  temperies, 
In  fletu  solatium. 

O  lux  beatissima, 
Reple  cord  is  intima 
Tuorum  fidelium ! 
Sine  tuo  numine 
Nihil  est  in  homine, 
Nihil  est  innoxium. 

Lava  quod  est  sordidum, 
Riga  quod  est  aridum, 
Sana  quod  est  saucium  ; 
Flecte  quod  est  rigidum, 
Fove  quod  est  frigidum, 
Rege  quod  est  devium  ! 

Da  tuis  fidelibus 
In  te  confidentibus 
Sacrum  septenarium ; 
Da  virtutis  meritum, 
Da  salutis  exitiim, 
Da  perenne  gaudium ! 


Come  Holy  Spirit, 

And  send  forth  the  heavenly 

Ray  of  thy  light. 

Come,  Father  of  the  poor ; 

Come,  giver  of  gifts  ; 

Come,  light  of  hearts. 

Thou  best  consoler, 

Sweet  guest  of  the  soul, 

Sweet  coolness  ; 

In  labor,  rest ; 

In  heat,  refreshment; 

In  tears,  solace. 

O  blessedest  light, 

Fill  the  inmost  parts 

Of  the  heart  of  thy  faithful ! 

Without  thy  divinity 

Nothing  is  in  man, 

Nothing  is  harmless. 

Wash  what  is  base  ; 
Bedew  what  is  dry  ; 
Heal  what  is  hurt ; 
Bend  what  is  harsh  ; 
Warm  what  is  chilled ; 
Rule  what  is  astray. 

Give  to  thy  faithful, 
In  thee  confiding, 
Thy  sevenfold  gift. 
Give  the  reward  ,of  virtue  ; 
Give  the  death  of  safety  ; 
Give  eternal  joy. 


This  very  singular  construction  of  clauses  is  apparent  to  the  eye 
at  once.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  Robert  uses  it  nowhere  else, 
and  that  the  most  of  Hermann's  writings  are  gone.  This  chance 
for  the  "  higher  criticism"  is  therefore  taken  from  us.  If  it  could 
be  shown,  however,  that  this  was  a  method  employed  by  the  monk 
of  Reichenau  in  his  prose  works,  the  case  might  be  regarded  as 
absolutely  proven,  in  so  far  as  it  demonstrates  that  the  bulk  of  the 
presumptive  evidence  is  in  his  favor. 


164  LATIN  HYMNS. 

But  here  we  are  at  fault.  We  can  only  add  probability  lo  prob 
ability  and  leave  all  absolute  demonstration  alone.  Fez  has  pre 
served  not  merely  Egon's  account  of  Hermann's  life,  but  he  has 
edited  Hermann's  treatises  on  the  astrolabe  (Thes.  Anecdot.  Tom., 
III.,  pt.  2,  p.  94)  from  a  MS.  codex  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Peter 
at  Salzburg.  His  musical  treatise  is  reprinted  by  Gerbert. 
(Scrip/ores  Eccl.  de  Musica,  vol.  ii.,  p.  124.)  The  didactic  poem 
reciting  the  combat  of  the  Sheep  and  the  Flax — always  recognized 
as  the  production  of  Hermann — is  in  Migne's  Patrologia  and  also 
in  Du  Meril's  Poesies  Populaires.  Unfortunately  none  of  these 
writings  are  of  a  sort  to  help  us.  We  cannot  by  their  assistance 
make  any  headway  in  critical  analysis. 

It  is  noticeable  that  J.  A.  Fabricius  in  his  great  work  on  the 
Middle  Age  and  later  Latin  writers,  allows  Hermann  to  be  the 
author  of  the  Veni  Sancfe,  following  the  testimony  of  Egon  and 
Metzler.  And  it  is  more  than  noticeable  that  Du  Meril — himself 
a  Frenchman — should  also  apparently  concede  the  hymn  to  this 
German.* 

I  have  made  an  exhaustive  search  for  everything  bearing  upon 
the  life  and  writings  of  Hermannus  Contractus.  I  have  pursued 
him  and  Robert  through  the  Quellen  of  German  history  ;  through 
the  writings  and  compilations  of  Canisius  and  Despont  and  Ursti- 
tius  and  Martene  and  Mabillon  and  D'Achery  and  Pertz  and  the 
Monumenta  Germaniae  Historica  of  the  "  Society  for  Opening  the 
Sources  of  German  History."  In  these  and  in  the  encyclopaedias 
of  La  Rousse  and  Ersch-Gruber  and  the  great  Patrologia  of  Migne, 
I  have  investigated  every  by-path  and  blind  alley.  It  is  abun 
dantly  clear  that  he  was  the  most  distinguished  man  of  his  region. 
and,  likely,  of  his  period.  Usserman  and  Possevin  have  devoted 
attention  to  him.  (Prodromus  Germ.  Sacr.  Tom.  I.,  p.  145  sqq., 
De  Apparaiu. )  His  didactic  poem  on  the  "  Eight  Principal  Vices'" 
is  in  Haupt's  Zeilschrift,  vol.  xiii.  His  lives  of  Conrad  and 
of  Henry  III  have  not  been  preserved.  That  he  was  a  very 
voluminous  writer  is  also  evident.  After  giving  the  names  of  some 


*  Poesies  Populaires  :  Anterieures  au  Douxieme  Siecle,  p.  380.  The 
language  is  worth  quoting  as  it  stands.  He  is  speaking  of  Hermann. 
"  II  avail  fait,  en  outre,  un  grand  nombre  d'hymnes  et  de  proses  qui  sauf 
le  Vemi,  Sancte  Fpintus  que  lui  attribue  Ego,  semblent  toutes  perdues." 


HERMANNUS  CONTRACTUS.  165 

of  his  sequences  Metzler  adds  that  there  were  cetera  mille  alia — 
a  thousand  more.  So  also  speaks  Trithemius  ;  and  indeed  this 
testimony  is  universal. 

A  single  line  of  inquiry  has  been  left  to  the  American  student. 
We  have  lists  of  the  MSS.  in  the  various  libraries  of  Europe.  If  it 
were  only  possible  to  examine  these  with  reference  to  the  Vent 
Sancte  the  matter  could  be  definitely  settled.  The  Rheinau 
(Reichenau)  library  is  rich  in  hymnaries.  Haenel's  "  No.  53" — 
whose  library  number  is  91 — is,  for  instance,  a  Liber  hymnorum  of 
the  tenth  to  the  twelfth  centuries.  There  are  several  others — brevi 
aries  and  collections  of  hymns — dating  to  the  twelfth  century  ;  and 
one  book,  "  No.  124"  (Lib.  No.  75),  which  is  marked  Sequcntiae 
propriae,  etc.,  and  which  is  likely  to  have  the  Veni  Sancte.  In 
the  eleventh  century  at  St.  Gall  they  have  "  No.  381"  (St.  Gall 
No.  486)  which  is  a  codex  insignis — a  very  beautiful  MS. — contain 
ing  the  "  earliest  collection  of  hymns  and  poems  of  writers  dwell 
ing  at  St.  Gall."  In  this  same  century  appears  the  Anselm,  which 
is  noted  as  a  codex  nobiliter  scripius  ab  Jfcrimanno,  qui  se  hoc  libri 
decus  ex  volo  perfecisse  testatur  (pag.  6),  a  manuscript  elegantly 
written  by  Hermann  ["  Herimann"  is  his  own  spelling  of  his 
name  in  the  Chronicon,  by  the  way],  who  says  on  page  6  that  he 
has  accomplished  this  excellent  volume  in  pursuance  of  a  vow. 
Among  these  St.  Gall  MSS.  can  be  found  the  Salve  regina,  bearing 
the  date  1437.  If  it  were  made  a  point  of  investigation  it  might 
be  discovered  that  in  both  Reichenau  and  St.  Gall  the  Vent,  Sancte 
Spirilus  is  in  codices  which  utterly  remove  it  from  the  perplexity 
of  its  authorship,  and  positively  join  it  to  the  name  of  Hermann. 

One  can  sum  up  the  whole  discussion  in  a  few  sentences.  Rob 
ert  wrote  no  other  valuable  hymns  ;  Hermann  did  write  several. 
Robert  was  not  specially  skilled  in  metrical  science  ;  Hermann 
was  the  author  of  a  treatise  on  the  subject.  Robert  was  a  poet 
and  a  musician  ;  Hermann  was  his  superior  in  both  departments. 
Robert  had  trouble  and  sorrow  and  Christian  experience  ;  Her 
mann  must  certainly  have  had  as  much  as  he,  and  more.  Robert 
has  had  poems  attributed  to  him  which  have  failed  of  proof,  and 
none  of  his  own  verses  seem  ever  to  have  been  misappropriated  or 
missing  ;  Hermann  has  had  more  taken  from  him  than  given  to 
him. 

In  the  matter  of  authority  we  are  to  note  : 


1 66  LATIN  HYMNS. 

1.  That  the  historians  of  St.  Gall  and  of  Reichenau  claim  for 
Hermann  the  Veni  Sancte. 

2.  That  the  hymn  is  found  in  the  earliest  codices  of  both  places  ; 
and  of  Einsiedeln,  which  is  in  the  neighborhood. 

3.  That  Clichtove  is  in  doubt  and  Daniel  is  in  doubt ;    that 
J.  A.  Fabricius  and  Edelstand  Du  Meril  incline  toward  Egon's 
statement ;  that  Trithemius  is  not  entirely  unprejudiced  ;  and  that 
Migne,   gathering  nearly  everything  (as  I  have  verified  from  the 
originals),  leaves  a  strong  presumption  in  Hermann's  favor. 

I  may  appear  to  make  a  good  deal  too  much  of  this  matter  of 
mediaeval  jealousy.  But  no  student  of  those  times  needs  to  be 
told  that  the  jealousy  between  the  various  cloisters  was  excessive. 
There  is  a  letter  of  the  Reichenau  monk  Gunzo,  written  in  960. 
(Martene,  I.,  296.)  It  is  addressed  to  the  "  holy  congregation 
at  Reichenau"  and  describes  his  journey  to  St.  Gall.  The  dis 
tance  was  great  enough  to  exhaust  the  learned  brother  ;  he  was 
lifted  off  of  his  beast  and  carried  in  by  hospitable  hands.  Not 
withstanding  which  he  vents  his  indignation  upon  their  methods 
and  their  lack  of  scholarship.  They  are  self  indulgent ;  they  are 
a  fraud  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Nihil  inde  sedfraudis  molamina 
parabanlur — they  do  nothing  there  except  contrive  a  great  mass 
of  deception,  says  the  angry  Gunzo.  They  attacked  him  on  his 
grammar  ;  and  he  attacked  them  in  turn  on  their  loquacity.  The 
epistle  is  grimly  humorous  at  this  distance  of  time  ;  but  the  bitter 
ness  was  altogether  too  genuine  to  be  pleasant. 

Far  away  from  the  most  of  these  noises — separated  by  the 
waters  of  the  lake  from  the  trampling  pilgrim -bands  who  went  to 
and  fro  between  the  East  and  West — Hermann  of  Reichenau 
passed  his  quiet  hours.  His  convent  was  rich.  Its  abbot  was 
said  to  be  able  to  journey  to  Rome  and  not  sleep  anywhere  on  the 
way  except  upon  his  own  soil.  It  had  been  founded  in  724  under 
the  auspices  of  Charles  Martel.  Such  was  the  admirable  situation 
of  this  religious  house — sufficient  to  itself  in  the  midst  of  all 
changes. 

They  buried  Hermann  in  his  ancestral  tomb  at  Altshausen.  In 
1631  "  three  bones"  of  him  were  exhumed  and  carried  "  by  force' ' 
to  the  monastery  of  Ochsenhausen,  but  who  took  them  and  who 
resisted  the  taking  of  them,  we  are  not  told.  These  are  the 
meagre  particulars  of  a  life  gentle,  patient,  and  unassuming — the 


HERMANNUS   CONTRACTUS.  167 

life  of  a  scholar  and  of  a  poet — who  mastered  great  obstacles  by 
the  genius  of  faith. 

Three  hundred  years  before  Christ  there  came  into  Ceylon  the 
Buddhist  missionary  Mahinda.  The  king  received  him  kindly 
and  built  for  him  and  his  monks  a  convent  on  the  hill  Mihintale, 
to  the  east  of  the  royal  city.  On  the  western  face  of  this  hill 
Mahinda  had  his  own  retreat  cut  out  from  the  living  rock.  Still 
can  be  seen — though  after  two  thousand  years — this  study  in 
which  the  great  teacher  of  Ceylon  "  sat  and  thought  and  worked 
through  the  long  years  of  his  peaceful  and  useful  life."  Under  the 
cool  shadow  of  his  rock,  with  his  stone  couch  on  which  to  re 
pose,  and  with  the  busy  plain,  so  far  removed  from  him,  sending 
its  faint  noises  up  from  below,  there  wrought  the  sage.  And 
there  he  died  at  last  and  was  buried  in  the  neighboring  Dagaba. 
Modern  times  have  nearly  forgotten  him,  but  no  story  of  that 
valley  or  that  island  is  complete  without  his  name. 

And  so,  in  this  later  manner,  lived  and  died  Hermann  Count 
of  Vohringen,  who  laid  down  earthly  honors  to  take  up  the  pur 
suit  of  heavenly  glory  ;  who  overcame  peevishness  of  mind  and 
weakness  of  body  by  faith  and  hope  and  love  ;  who  looked  out 
upon  his  times  from  this  serene  distance,  and  who  went  to  his  last 
sleep  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  rock. 


NOTE. — I  am  not  ignorant  that  Jourdam  (Recherches  critiques 
sur  I' Age  et  !' ' Origine  des  Traductions  lalines  d' Aristote.  Paris, 
1819  and  1843)  nas  attacked  the  ascription  of  translations  of 
Aristotle  from  the  Arabic  to  our  Hermann,  denying  that  the 
cripple  of  Reichenau  possessed  any  knowledge  of  that  tongue. 
Briefly  stated  his  arguments  are  these  :  i.  That  Trithemius 
followed  Jacobus  of  Bergamo  in  ascribing  to  H.  Contractus  a 
knowledge  of  Arabic.  2.  That  Metzler  (whom  he  calls  Mezler) 
has  added  the  statement  about  the  Poetics  and  Rhetoric.  3.  That 
every  one  else  has  followed  these  two  authorities.  4.  That  "  H. 
Alemannus' '  wrote  in  Toledo,  to  which  the  other  Hermann  could 
not  have  journeyed.  5.  That  the  translations  were  by  this  "  H. 
Alemannus"  (Hermann  the  German)  who  flourished  in  the  first 
half  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

It  is  enough  of  a  reply  to  say  :    i.   That  the  concluding  wcrds 


1 68  LATIN  HYMNS. 

of  a  manuscript  relate,  not  to  its  author,  but  to  its  transcriber. 
The  MS.  mentioned  by  Jourdain  and  the  other  MS.  in  the  Biblio- 
theque  Roy  ale  of  the  fifteenth  century  (viz.,  Doctrina  Matumeii, 
quae  apud  Saracenos  magnae  auctoritatis  est,  ab  Hermanno  latine 
translata.  Cod.  MS.,  No.  6225)  are  both  later  than  their  original 
date.  This  second  MS.  may  be  by  Hermann  de  Schildis,  a  monk 
of  the  thirteenth  century.  2.  Every  one  has  not  "  followed  "  the 
authority  of  Metzler  and  Trithemius.  The  "  Anonymus  Melli. 
censis"  (twelfth  century)  enumerates  treatises  by  Hermannus  Con- 
tractus  upon  Computation,  Astronomy,  Physiognomy  and  Poetry, 
which  at  least  imply  that  Aristotle  had  largely  affected  his  studies. 
3.  It  is  notable  also  to  find  H.  Alemannus  quoting  Cicero  in  his 
two  introductions,  when  we  know  H.  Contracius  to  have  been 
very  fond  of  Cicero.  4.  H.  Alemannus  says  that  he  has  met 
great  "impediments"  and  "difficulties"  in  accomplishing  this 
translation,  and  that  the  difference  between  Latin  and  Arabic 
poetry  forbade  a  poetical  rendering.  Which  would  coincide  with 
H.  Contractus's  personal  obstacles  and  with  his  natural  desire  as  a 
poet  to  attempt  a  rendering  in  verse.  5.  H.  Alemannus  refers 
to  "  Johannes  Burgensis"  (John  of  Burgau,  in  Suabia)  as  a  bishop 
and  the  king's  chancellor  and  his  personal  friend  and  the  promoter 
of  this  work.  I  cannot  find  "  John  of  Burgau  ;"  but  H.  Con- 
tractus  was  a  Suabian,  and  Suabia  is  very  near  to  Reichenau. 
H.  Contractus  was  also  closely  associated  with  Conrad  and  Henry 
III.,  whose  lives  he  wrote. 

It  is  a  curious  question  this.  It  is  only  another  proof  of  the 
neglect  into  which  a  great  man  has  fallen.  For  Hermann  is 
called  "  nostri  miraculum  seculi"  by  the  next  generation  who  came 
after  him.  And  there  is  no  absolute  proof  that,  "  without  lexicon 
or  grammar"  (for  so  Jourdain  puts  it),  he  could  not  have  mastered 
Arabic.  Observing  the  topics  of  his  other  writings  cognate  to 
those  of  Aristotle,  I  am  therefore  not  in  the  least  inclined  to  yield 
to  even  M.  Charles  Jourdain. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

ETER    DAMIANI,  CARDINAL    AND    FLAGELLANT. 

IT  is  not  every  poet  who  begins  by  keeping  the  swine  and  ends 
by  wearing  the  red  hat  and  purple  robe  of  a  cardinal-bishop.  Nor 
is  it  every  poet  who  commences  as  a  forlorn  and  deserted  found 
ling,  to  whom  it  is  a  great  mercy  to  have  even  swine  to  keep  by 
way  of  getting  his  daily  bread.  But  all  this  and  more  befell 
Damiani. 

We  are  not  informed  about  his  parentage,  except  that  he  had  a 
mother  who  abandoned  him,  and  a  brother  (or,  more  probably, 
an  uncle)  who  took  pity  on  him.  He  was  born  in  Ravenna. 
Some  authorities  say  it  was  in  988  ;  others  that  it  was  in  1007. 
A  modern  hymnologist,  anxious  to  be  right  (though  he  is  fre 
quently  wrong),  sets  it  at  1002.  But  1007  has  the  greatest  weight 
of  evidence. 

This  brother,  or  uncle,  had  compassion  on  the  lad,  and  poor 
little  outcast  Peter  was  sent  by  him  "  into  his  fields  to  feed  swine," 
a  much  more  honorable  employment  of  course  in  Italy  than  in 
Palestine,  and  one  which  he  shared  with  Nicholas  Brakespeare, 
the  English  pope,  Hadrian  IV.  What  was  his  previous  history 
we  cannot  discover,  though  the  Ada  Sanctorum  for  February  2jd 
is  full  of  legendary  accounts.  We  only  know  that  his  natural 
abilities  attracted  the  notice  of  another  relative  (brother,  some  say), 
who  was  an  archdeacon  at  Ravenna.  He  it  was  who  advanced 
Peter  to  the  opportunities  of  education,  and  who  proved  so  fast  a 
friend  that  the  boy  took  his  patron's  name  for  his  own.  As 
Eusebius  called  himself  Eusebius  Pamphili  (Pamphilus's  Euse- 
bius),  so  Peter  became  Peter  Damiani,  "  Damian's  Peter,"  and 
this  designation  has  adhered  to  him  ever  since.  It  is  amusing  to 
read  now  and  then  of  Peter  Damianus,  as  if  Damiani  were  an 
Italian  nominative  case  instead  of  a  Latin  genitive. 

His  birth  was  too  obscure  to  lead  any  person  to  interfere  with 
him.  He  therefore  quietly  studied  and  improved,  to  the  edifica- 


170  LATIN  HYMNS. 

tion  of  his  fellow-pupils  and  the  admiration  of  his  teachers.  His 
school-training  was,  first  of  all,  in  Faenza.  Thence  he  was  sent 
to  Parma,  and  eventually  he  returned  to  Ravenna,  where  he  taught 
with  distinction  and  popular  approval,  until  he  was  nearly  or 
quite  thirty  years  old. 

The  age  was  barbarous  and  good  professors  were  scarce.  It 
seems  to  have  been  expected  that  brilliant  minds  would  go  on 
shining  like  those  exhaustless  lamps  which  are  fabled  to  have  been 
found  in  the  tombs  of  the  old  magicians.  If  such  was  the  case, 
with  the  intense  intellect  of  Damiani  he  must  have  tapped  some 
source  of  real  spiritual  power  early  in  his  course,  for  he  burns 
brightly  even  now  as  we  read  his  vivid  truthfulness  and  peruse 
some  of  his  lovely  verses,  out  from  which  leap,  nevertheless, 
tongues  of  flaming  scorn  for  hypocrites  and  simonists. 

Yes,  the  age  was  barbarous,  and  therefore  Peter  Damiani  was 
soon  a  professor,  with  many  students  and  an  abundance  of  fees. 
Knowledge  in  those  days  not  only  meant  power  but  wealth,  and 
he  was  fast  growing  rich  in  Ravenna.  It  was  a  delightful  life,  but 
it  did  not  suit  him.  He  was,  in  fact,  the  "  spiritual  kinsman, 
and  in  many  respects  the  pioneer"  of  Gregory  VII.  Hildebrand 
came  to  be,  after  awhile,  his  personal  friend,  his  sane/us  Sathanas, 
his  Mephistopheles,  his  instigator  and  stimulant.  Of  a  sudden, 
then,  he  departed  from  Ravenna  to  take  up  his  abode  with  the 
hermits  of  Fonte  Avellana,  near  Gubbio.  Here  he  was  known  by 
the  name  of  Frater  Honestus,  and  surely  he  deserved  the  title,  for 
he  was  a  swift  witness  against  every  sort  of  sin.  Guy,  the  abbot, 
persuaded  him  to  undertake  the  instruction  of  the  brethren,  and 
thus  he  found  himself  back  at  his  old  work  of  teaching  once  more. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  new  monk  became  prior  of  the  con 
vent.  Then,  in  1041,  he  rose  to  be  abbot.  And  then,  in  1047, 
he  indited  to  Pope  Leo  IX.  his  famous  Liber  Gomorrhianus.  This 
Gomorrah  Book  is  just  what  its  name  implies.  It  is  one  of  the 
earliest  protests  uttered  within  the  Church  against  the  awful 
wickedness  which  was  everywhere  prevalent. 

The  subject  is  far  too  unpleasant  for  me  to  deal  with  it  at  any 
length.  And  yet  this  disagreeable  topic  forces  itself  upon  the 
notice  of  the  student  of  that  period  wherever  he  may  turn.  Most 
ingenious  and  sophistical  distinctions  were  made  in  those  days 
relative  to  sin.  This  thing,  for  instance,  was  wrong  ;  but  that 


PETER  DA  All  AN  I,   CARDINAL  AND  FLAGELLANT.   171 

other  was  not  half  so  wrong  as  this  was.  Such  an  offence  was  to 
be  condoned  by  a  trifling  penance,  and  such  another  was  to  be 
only  met  by  years  of  contiition.  Against  all  this  hypocritical 
nastiness  Damiani  set  his  pen.  No  more  scathing  book  was  ever 
written.  And  the  only  wonder  is  that  it  has  evaded  the  vigilance 
of  the  men  who  suffered  by  it,  and  has  made  its  escape  into  type, 
never  again  to  be  in  peril  of  its  existence.  Bayle — who  may  be 
safely  accounted  unapproachable  in  such  abstruse  inquiries — has 
given  us  the  whole  story  of  this  book.  It  was  a  terrible  scourge 
to  the  vices  of  the  clergy,  and  even  Baionius  allows  that  it  was  not 
written  one  moment  too  soon. 

The  pope  to  whom  this  remarkable  document  was  addressed 
was  a  man  of  appropriate  spirit.  He  was  the  third  in  the  series 
of  five  able  German  popes,  who  labored  so  hard  in  the  cause  of 
disciplinary  reform.  At  Hildebrand's  advice,  he  had  laid  aside  the 
papal  insignia,  which  he  donned  at  his  election,  and  came  to 
Rome  as  a  barefooted  pilgrim  in  1048.  He  aimed  to  put  down 
simony,  to  stop  the  barter  and  sale  of  benefices,  and  to  secure  the 
celibacy  of  the  clergy.  To  this  end  he  used  the  synods  with  vigor, 
and  was  ready  for  almost  any  proposed  reform  which  fell  in  with 
his  line  of  operations.  He  was  of  the  German,  not  the  ultramon 
tane  party,  and  therefore  was  quite  liberal  in  his  construction  of  the 
great  text,  "  Thou  art  Peter,"  and  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  the 
Church  should  first  of  all  be  built  upon  the  true  rock,  which  was 
Christ.  To  him,  then,  the  Gomorrah  Book  went,  and  it  made  a  stir. 

The  next  four  popes  occupied  among  them  no  longer  period  of 
ecclesiastical  rule  than  from  the  year  1054  to  the  year  1061.  Mat 
ters  were  unsettled.  No  one  continued  in  office.  But  the  finger 
of  Hildebrand  the  cardinal  was  mightier  than  the  hand  of  any 
pope.  Nicholas  II.  was  guided  by  him,  and  Alexander  II.,  who 
came  forward  in  1061,  was  unquestionably  under  his  control. 
And  when  Alexander  appeared,  it  seemed  that  the  Gomorrah  Book 
was  still  an  element  of  unrest  and  disturbance,  at  a  time  when  the 
claims  of  an  Antipope  (Honorius  II.)  had  been  set  up  by  the 
Imperialist  party,  and  it  was  necessary  for  even  Hildebrand's 
friends  to  give  as  little  offence  as  possible  to  the  clergy.  For  the 
election  of  Alexander  was  clearly  irregular,  because  it  was  in 
defiance  of  the  rules  laid  down  by  Nicholas  II.  at  a  Lateran 
Synod  in  1059.  With  a  genial  and  suave  manner  the  new  pontiff 


172  LATIN  HYMNS, 

now  borrowed  the  work  for  the  ostensible  purpose  of  having  it 
copied  by  the  help  of  the  Abbot  of  St.  Saviour.  That  was  the 
last  that  Damiani  saw  of  it  for  some  little  while. 

If  Alexander  thought  that  the  hermit  abbot  of  Fonte  Avellana 
would  submit  to  this  method  of  suppression  he  flattered  his  soul 
in  vain.  Damiani,  after  a  reasonable  delay,  appealed  to  his  friend 
Hildebrand.  The  book  was  like  a  part  of  himself,  and  he  had  no 
desire  to  have  it  treated  with  neglect.  One  cannot  here  follow  the 
windings  of  the  story  further  than  to  say  that  Damiani  got  his 
book  again,  and  now  we  have  it  too. 

I  am  surprised  at  the  blindness  which  prevents  some  writers 
from  seeing  in  this  Peter  de  Honestis  a  most  noble  and  consistent 
character.  Morheim  only  pays  him  a  merited  compliment  when 
he  says  that  his  "  genius,  candor,  integrity,  and  writings  of  various 
kinds,  entitle  him  to  rank  among  the  first  men  of  the  age,  although 
he  was  not  free  from  the  faults  of  the  times."  But  how  could 
one  easily  avoid  the  extreme  of  severity  who  was  confronted  by 
the  grossest  sins  that  ever  carried  a  hissing  sibilant  in  front  of  their 
names  !  Flagellation  was  a  natural  reaction  from  those  fleshly 
lusts  that  warred  against  the  soul. 

Somehow  Hildebrand  took  a  great  fancy  to  this  genuine  re 
former.  His  own  great  schemes  were  ripening,  and  Damiani  was 
just  the  man  to  be  made  of  value  in  the  office  of  cardinal.  In 
1057,  then,  the  abbot  had  been  created  cardinal-bishop  of  Ostia 
by  Pope  Nicholas  II.,  and  in  the  year  following  deacon  of  the 
holy  college.  At  first  he  strenuously  resisted  the  honor,  but  was 
forced  to  assume  it  by  the  Pope's  command.  In  1059  he  had 
acted  as  papal  legate  to  the  semi-independent  Ambrosian  Church 
of  Milan.  Here  he  obtained  pledges  from  them  that  they  would 
conduct  their  affairs  with  purity  and  agree  to  receive  the  authority 
of  the  Roman  pontiff. 

He  did  not  remain  among  the  cardinals  very  long.  His  con 
vent  allured  him,  and  the  display  requisite  to  his  proper  duties  was 
both  irksome  and  repugnant  to  him.  Therefore  he  went  home 
again,  ardently  devoted  to  Hildebrand,  but  devoid  of  all  ambition, 
and  ready  to  denounce  the  Pope  or  anybody  else  when  it  appeared 
that  the  rights  of  the  Church  were  infringed. 

In  1062  Alexander  II.  found  use  for  him  as  legate  to  France, 
and  he  influenced  Cluny  in  favor  of  Alexander  II.  In  1068-69  we 


PETER  DAMIANI,  CARDINAL  AND  FLAGELLANT.   173 

find  him  again  a  legate  in  German}',  impressing  on  young  Henry 
IV.  the  importance  of  submission  to  Rome.  This,  too,  he 
effected  ;  and  in  1072 — the  last  year  of  his  life — he  appears  in 
the  same  capacity  at  the  age  of  sixty  six,  busy  with  the  reform  of 
the  Church  in  his  native  Ravenna. 

This  is  the  outline  of  his  story,  and  it  bears  no  great  marks  of 
difference  from  others  which  have  been  commemorated  in  eccle 
siastical  history.  Upon  these  services,  and  upon  his  relations  to 
Hildebrand,  a  claim  to  considerable  repute  might  be  established 
for  him.  These  facts,  however,  would  not  keep  him  in  mind  to 
day  so  well  as  his  doctrine  of  flagellation  and  the  melody  of  his 
two  grand  hymns. 

This  matter  of  flagellation  was  older  than  Damiani's  time.  It 
was  permitted  in  the  convents  to  give  five  "  disciplinary  strokes." 
Starting  at  this  point  Peter  the  Honest  asks,  "  Why  may  we  not 
give  the  sixth,  for  the  same  reason  ?"  If  these  five  have  been 
inflicted  on  the  unwilling  victim,  why  should  he  not  secure  some 
credit  to  himself  by  taking  a  sixth,  a  seventh,  an  eighth  ?  The  ice 
once  broken,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  the  new  custom  would  be  seized 
upon  by  the  ascetic  hermits  of  Fonte  Avellana.  The  argument  is 
curious,  as  a  specimen  of  that  specious  reasoning  to  which  the 
ecclesiastic  mind  was  tending,  and  which,  later  on,  comes  into  full 
'bloom  among  the  Jesuit  fathers. 

Damiani  inquires  "  if  our  Saviour  was  not  beaten  ;  if  Paul  did 
not  receive,  on  several  occasions,  '  forty  stripes  save  one '  ;  if  all 
the  apostles  were  not  scourged  ;  and  whether  the  martyrs  had  not 
received  the  same  punishment.  Did  not  St.  Jerome  say  that  these 
were  scourged  by  order  of  God  ?  And  who  dares  deny  that  they 
were  scourged  for  others  and  not  for  themselves  ?  Hence,  if  one 
undertakes  this  discipline,  willingly,  for  himself,  he  must  be  doing 
a  good  thing."  (See  Fleury  :  Hist.  Ecclesiastique,  XII.,  p.  107, 
Anno  1062.)  He  then  adds  the  example  of  Guy,  his  predecessor, 
who  died  1046,  and  of  Poppo,  a  contemporary,  who  had  died  in 
1048.  The  date  of  his  own  advocacy  of  this  doctrine  is  about 
1056. 

Monte  Cassino  took  up  the  practice  with  vigor  ;  but  in  Peter's 
own  convent  the  most  consummate  example  of  flagellation  was 
speedily  developed,  and  his  disciple,  Dominic  of  the  Cuirass 
(Dommiats  Loricatus],  carries  off  the  palm  from  all  posterity.  The 


174  LATIN  HYMNS. 

method  proposed  by  Damiani  was  that  the  psalter  should  be  recited 
to  the  accompaniment  of  the  blows  of  the  scourge.  Every  psalm 
called  for  one  hundred  strokes ;  the  whole  psalter  for  fifteen 
thousand.  By  this  spiritual  arithmetic  three  thousand  equalled 
one  year  of  purgatory,  and  therefore  the  complete  psalter  answered 
for  five  years  of  purgation  removed  from  either  one's  self  or  one's 
neighbor.  But  Dominic  was  an  inebriate  in  his  flogging  and  set 
himself  tasks  of  stupendous  size.  He  also  improved  the  art  in 
several  respects.  He  used  both  hands  with  dreadful  facility,  and 
frequently  lashed  his  face  until  it  was  covered  with  blood,  sing 
ing  his  psalms  the  while  in  a  harsh,  cracked,  and  terrible  voice. 
In  the  forty  days  of  one  Lent  he  recited  the  psalter  two  hundred 
times,  and  inflicted  what  one  reckless  calculator  calls  "  sixty  mill 
ion  stripes"  upon  himself.  The  true  number  is  three  million, 
which  is  clearly  sufficient. 

At  another  occasion  he  literally  flogged  himself  "  against  time," 
apparently  just  to  see  what  could  be  done  by  a  determined  man  in 
twenty-four  hours.  At  the  end  of  that  period  he  had  gone  through 
the  psalter  twelve  times  and  a  fraction  over,  and  had  given  himself 
one  hundred  and  eighty-three  thousand  stripes,  working  away  with 
both  hands  (as  a  caustic  writer  suggests)  "  in  the  interest  of  the 
great  sinking  fund  of  the  Catholic  Church." 

Flagellation,  like  the  dancing  mania  and  the  strange  parades  of 
the  Turlepins  and  Anabaptists  in  the  Middle  Ages,  has  its  root  in 
nervous  excitement  and  morbid  devotion.  Under  Anthony  of 
Padua,  about  1210,  all  Perugia  lashed  themselves  through  the 
streets.  Justin  of  Padua  relates  that  great  disorders  and  inde 
cency  attended  the  processions.  The  madness  spread  like  wild 
fire  through  Rome  and  Italy.  In  1260  and  in  1261  the  custom 
was  again  revived  after  some  decadence,  in  the  same  town  of 
Perugia  and  under  one  Rainer.  And  at  this  date  thousands  went 
out  into  Germany  led  by  priests  with  banners  and  crosses.  Again 
fading  from  public  notice,  the  flagellants  reappeared  during  the 
progress  of  the  plague  in  1349.  Hecker  and  Cooper  supplement 
the  account  given  by  Boileau.  The  affair  was  itself  an  epidemic. 
The  company  marched  and  sang  hymns — among  which  was  the 
Stabat  Mater — and  bore  tapers  and  magnificent  banners.  They 
finally  became  a  regular  nomadic  tribe,  separating  into  two  por 
tions,  one  of  which  went  to  the  south  and  the  other  to  the  north. 


PETER  DAMIANI,  CARDINAL  AND  FLAGELLANT.    175 

The  Church  was  powerless,  and  those  pro  and  anti  flagellationists, 
who  happened  to  be  in  ecclesiastical  authoiity,  solemnly  excom 
municated  each  other ! 

The  wild  license  of  these  scenes  was  far  from  aiding  either 
morality  or  religion.  Clement  VI.  (1332-52)  issued  his  bull 
against  them.  And,  inasmuch  as  these  fanatics  had  failed  to  re 
store  a  dead  child  to  life  in  Strasburg,  (he  malediction  of  Rome 
had  some  effect,  and  once  more  the  harsh  custom  died  out. 

Then  there  was  another  upheaval  under  Venturinus,  a  Domini 
can  of  Bergamo,  and  ten  thousand  persons  joined  the  order.  Like 
a  perennial  plant  it  again  perished  and  again  sprang  up  in  1414, 
when  these  awful  orgies  were  renewed  under  the  leadership  of  a 
person  named  Conrad.  But  now  the  Inquisition  interfered,  and 
among  the  testimony  taken  to  show  the  lengths  to  which  the  fa 
naticism  went  is  the  sworn  evidence  of  a  citizen  of  Nordhausen  who, 
in  1446,  asserted  that  his  wife  wanted  to  have  the  children  scourged 
just  as  soon  as  they  had  been  baptized  ! 

Once  more,  in  the  sixteenth  century  the  Black  and  Gray  Peni 
tents  appeared  in  France.  In  1574  the  Queen-mother  put  herself 
at  the  head  of  the  black  band  in  Avignon,  and  the  disorders,  in 
decency,  and  general  depravity  of  manners  which  followed  would 
scarcely  be  believed  even  if  it  was  proper  to  mention  them. 

From  that  date  to  the  present  time  more  or  less  of  this  old  in 
sanity  occasionally  reappears.  It  affords  a  singular  commentary 
on  our  boasted  advance  beyond  those  dark  ages,  for  us  to  know 
that  the  Penitentes  of  our  own  Californian  coast  do  precisely  every 
year  what  Dominic  of  the  Cuirass  and  Anthony  of  Padua  and 
Conrad  and  Rainer  all  did  centuries  ago. 

And  this  frightful  enginery  of  fanaticism  was  set  in  motion  by 
the  man  who  wrote  one  of  the  loveliest  hymns  in  the  Latin  lan 
guage  ! 

I  make  no  attempt  to  analyze  the  feelings  that  have  prompted 
this  strange  austerity.  Isaac  Taylor  has  already  done  this  in  a 
most  masterly  fashion  in  his  Fanaticism.  But  the  essence  of  it  is 
that  wild  delusion  which  leads  men  (and  even  women)  to  fancy 
that  they  can  vicariously  atone  for  others'  sins  and  "  make  merit," 
as  the  heathen  do,  for  those  who  are  less  bold  than  themselves. 
They  have  fastened  themselves  down  like  the  poor  wretched  geese 
doomed  to  furnish  patles  de-fois-gras.  They  are  before  the  hot 


176  LATIN  HYMNS. 

fire  of  zeal  and  gorged  upon  indigestible  dogmas.  Hence  their 
charity  becomes  as  abnormal  as  the  livers  of  the  geese,  and  the 
moral  epicure,  alas,  finds  in  them  dainties  suitable  for  his  depraved 
taste  ! 

It  would  be  a  grievous  injustice  to  a  good  man  if  Damiani 
should  only  bear  with  us  the  character  of  an  ardent  zealot  and  not 
of  a  Christian  poet.  In  this  last  guise  he  is  at  his  best.  Doubt 
less  he  often  offends  by  his  Mariolatry,  but  he  will  as  often  charm 
bv  the  music  of  his  verse.  He  may  serve  also  as  a  convenient 
example  of  this  worship  of  Mary,  for  in  one  of 'his  prayers  he  has 
given  us  the  pith  and  core  of  that  peculiar  devotion.  It  runs 
thus  : 

"  O  queen  of  the  world,  stairs  of  heaven,  throne  of  God,  gate 
of  paradise,  hear  the  prayers  of  the  poor  and  despise  not  the  groans 
of  the  wretched.  By  thee  our  vows  and  sighs  are  borne  to  the 
presence  of  the  Redeemer,  that  whatsoever  things  are  forbidden  to 
our  merits  may  obtain,  through  thee,  place  in  the  ears  of  divine 
piety.  Erase  sins,  relieve  crimes,  raise  the  fallen,  and  release 
the  entangled.  Through  thee  the  thorns  and  shoots  of  vice  are 
cut  down,  and  the  flowers  and  ornaments  of  virtue  appear.  Ap 
pease  with  prayers  the  Judge,  the  Saviour,  whom  thou  didst  pro 
duce  in  unique  childbirth,  that  He  who  through  thee  has  become 
partaker  of  our  humanity,  through  thee  may  also  make  us  par 
takers  of  His  divinity.  Who  with  God  the  Father  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  liveth  and  reigneth,  world  without  end.  Amen." 

I  have  given  this  as  an  example  of  his  prose.  Here  is  a  petition 
"  against  a  stormy  time,"  composed  in  that  "  leonine  and  tailed 
rhyme"  in  which  Bernard  of  Cluny,  a  century  later,  wrote  the  De 
Contemptu  mundi.  It  commences, 

"  O  miseratrix,  0  dominatrix,  praecipe  dictu  ! 

O  thou  that  pitiest.  O  thou  the  mightiest,  hark  to  our  crying  ; 

Lest  we  be  beaten  down,  lest  we  be  smitten  down  when  hail  is  fly 
ing. 

Thine  is  a  priestly  breast,  O  thou  that  succorest,  mother  eternal 

Therefore  we  pray  to  thee,  lest  we  be  stayed  from  thee,  by  storm 
infernal. 

Quiet  the  tempest-wrack  !  Give  us  the  sunshine  back  for  our  fair 
weather  ! 

Lend  us  clear  light  again,  make  the  stars  bright  again  where  the  clouds 
feather  ! 


PETER  DAMIANI,  CARDINAL  AND  FLAGELLANT.    177 

Virgin,  oh  cherish  thy  friends  lest  we  perish  by  sickness  or  anger  ; 
Drive  all  these  ills  away,  thou  whose  love  stills  away  thunder's  mad 
clangor  !" 

By  far  the  greater  part  of  his  hymns  are  addressed  to  the  Virgin 
and  to  the  saints,  but  there  are  some  others — the  Paule  doctor 
Egregie,  the  Paschalis /esti  gaudium,  the  Christe  sanctorum  gloria, 
and  the  two  powerful  judgment  hymns,  Gram  me  terror e  and 
0  Quam  dira,  quam  horrenda  —which  are  worthy  of  note.  This 
Gravi  me  terrore  of  the  eleventh  century  ranks  with  the  Apparebit 
repenlina  of  the  seventh  century.  These,  together  with  the  Dies 
Irae  of  the  fourteenth  century,  form  the  great  judgment  triad  of 
Latin  psalmody. 

Yet  of  all  the  hymns  of  that  or  any  later  time,  nothing  ap 
proaches  the  beauty  of  the  Ad perennis  vitae  fontem^  of  which  this 
Peter  Damiani  sings.  It  is  born  of  Augustine's  thoughts  and 
dreams  of  the  heavenly  land,  and  some  of  its  phrases  are  exquisite 
beyond  the  possibility  of  translation.  When  Frater  Honestus  on 
February  23d,  1072,  forever  left  that  convent  of  Fonte  Avellana, 
whither  Dante  went  upon  his  last  recorded  journey,  then  that 
noble  landscape  might  preserve  these  sixty-one  lines  of  Latin  verse 
among  the  choicest  treasures  of  its  dell  and  grove.  This  was  no 
lark  that  sang  against  the  sun  with  clarion  notes  calling  us  to  such 
praise  as  rings  through  the  ancient  morning  hymn  of  Hilary.  It 
was  the  nightingale  of  Faenza,  sending  out  those  thrilling  tones 
from  the  midst  of  the  walls  which  beheld  the  eager  scholar  and  to 
which  the  weary  cardinal  had  returned  to  die.  Upon  his  fame  it 
is  set  therefore  not  like  the  lark's  song,  but  the  nightingale's,  not 
as  the  flashing  diamond,  but  (in  Daniel's  very  words)  "  as  a  pre 
cious  pearl  for  our  treasury."  Mrs.  Charles  has  rendered  it  into 
English  with  grace  and  success.  Mr.  Morgan  appends  this  auto 
graph  note  to  the  version  in  the  copy  of  his  book  which  is  in  my 
possession  :  "  N.  B. — This  hymn  was  printed  without  revision. 
If  reprinted  the  metres  will  be  made  equal. ' '  He  has  not  at 
tempted  to  follow  the  versification  of  the  original.  I  know  of  no 
other  translation  except  that  of  R.  F.  Littledale  in  Lyra  Mystica. 

Another  beautiful  hymn  which  was  suggested  by  the  prose  of 
Augustine,  and  is  ascribed  to  Peter  Damiani  by  Anselm  of  Canter 
bury,  who  was  his  younger  contemporary,  is  the  Quid  tyranne,  quid 
minaris.  It  is  commonly  called 


178  LATIN  HYMNS. 


THE  ANTIDOTE  OF  ST.    AUGUSTINE  AGAINST   THE 
TYRANNY   OF  SIN. 

What  are  threats  of  thine,  O  tyrant, 

How  can  any  torture  move, 
When,  for  all  of  thy  contriving, 

Nothing  yet  can  equal  love. 

Sweet  it  is  to  suffer  sorrow, 

Futile  is  the  force  of  pain  ; 
I  had  sooner  die  than  borrow 

Any  spot  that  love  to  stain. 

Heap  the  fagots  as  thou  pleasest, 

Do  what  evil  hearts  approve, 
Add  the  sword  and  cross  together, 

Nothing  yet  can  equal  love. 

Pain  itself  is  quite  too  gentle, 

One  poor  death  too  brief  must  be, 

I  would  suffer  thousand  tortures — 
Every  woe  is  light  to  me  ! 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

HILDEBERT    AND  HIS    HYMN. 

THOSE  who  love  the  "  Golden  Legend  "  of  Longfellow  will 
remember  how  effectively  he  has  there  used  the  Latin  songs  and 
hymns.  Friar  Paul  is  so  very  like  the  famous  Friar  John  of 
Rabelais,  that  he  is  probably  copied  from  that  worthy.  Indeed 
\hz  Epistolce  Obscurorum  Virorum,  with  its  dog- Latin  and  its  broad 
satire  on  the  habits  of  the  monks,  was  a  most  effective  weapon  in 
the  hands  of  the  reformers.  There  were  a  great  many  learned 
men  who  were  by  no  means  equally  as  pious,  and  who  found 
their  bodily  contentment  in  the  cloister.  Against  these  and  all 
like  them  came  the  constant  shafts  of  ridicule  or  reproach. 

But  now,  when  this  same  Friar  Paul  "  tunes  his  mellow  pipe" 
to  a  bacchanalian  solo  in  the  refectory,  we  can  almost  forgive  him, 
forasmuch  as  he  sings  in  such  capital  measure.  There  is  a  Gau- 
diolum—z.  regular  merry-making  of  monks — down  in  the  cellar  ; 
in  which,  by  the  way,  Lucifer,  disguised  in  the  gray  habit,  takes 
his  appropriate  place.  And  when  Friar  Paul  begins  on  the  praise 
of  good  liquor,  he  parodies  the  metre  and  rhyme  of  the  current 
religious  sequences.  Listen  to  him  : 

"  Felix  venter  quern  intrabis, 
Felix  guttur  quod  rigabis, 
Felix  os  quod  tu  lavabis, 
Et  beata  labia  !" 

Or,  as  we  may  express  it  in  our  own  language  : 

'  Blessed  stomach  which  thou  warmest, 
Blessed  throat  which  thou  reformist, 
Blessed  mouth  whose  thirst  thou  stormest. 
Blessed  lips  to  taste  of  thee  !" 

Here  and  there  Professor  Longfellow  introduces  also  into  this 
"  Golden  Legend"  his  own  renderings  from  the  Latin,  in  little 
transcriptions  which  are  exquisitely  felicitous.  But  presently,  in 
sharp  contrast  to  the  ribald  Paul  and  the  dissolute  Cuthbert  and 


180  LATIN  HYMNS. 

the  rest  of  the  noisy  crew  in  the  refectory,  he  allows  us  to  hear  the 
song  of  the  pilgrims.  They  are  chanting  the  Hymn  of  Hildebert 
of  Lavardin,  Archbishop  of  Tours  : 

"  Me  receptet  Sion  ilia, 

Sion  David,  urbs  tranquilla, 
Cujus  faber  auctor  lucis, 
Cujus  portae  lignum  crucis, 
Cujus  claves  lingua  Petri, 
Cujus  cives  semper  laeti, 
Cujus  muri  lapis  vivus, 
Cujus  custos  Rex  festivus." 

It  is  the  hope  of  the  Holy  City  of  which  they  are  telling  : 

Me,  that  Sion  soon  shall  pity — 
David's  Sion,  peaceful  city  ! 
Whose  designer  made  the  morning  ; 
Whose  are  gates,  the  cross  adorning  ; 
Whose  keys  are  to  Peter  given  ; 
Whose  glad  throng  are  saints  in  heaven  ; 
Whose  are  walls  of  living  splendor  ; 
Whose  a  royal,  true  Defender  !" 

These  pilgrims,  every  now  and  then,  break  in  with  some  snatch 
of  melody  from  this  fine  old  anthem.  And  jet  there  are  doubt 
less  those  who  never  have  gone  back  to  see  for  themselves  whence 
all  this  beauty  has  been  taken.  But  the  Hymn  of  Hildebert 
would  well  repay  them  if  they  did. 

It  is  the  composition  of  a  man  who  was  the  Admirable  Crichton 
of  his  time — Hildebert  of  Lavardin,  a  student  under  Berenger  and 
Hugo  of  Cluny.  This  is  the  same  poet  who,  with  Wichard  of 
Lyons,  is  mentioned  by  Bernard  of  Cluny  in  his  preface  to  the 
Hora  Novissima.  He  says  there,  that  even  these  eminent  versifiers 
had  never  dared  to  attempt  the  measure  of  his  own  three  thousand 
lines.  And  we  have  abundant  other  testimony  that  Hildebert 
was  an  accomplished  orator,  a  successful  controversialist,  a  brill 
iant  rhetorician,  a  poet  of  ten  thousand  lines,  and  the  author  of 
this  majestic  and  beautiful  composition.  He  was  born  in  the 
year  1057  (or  1055)  at  Lavardin,  near  Vendome,  in  France,  was 
first  head-master  of  a  school,  then  an  archdeacon,  then  instructor 
in  theology  and  Bishop  of  Le  Mans  (1097),  and  finally  (1125), 
Archbishop  of  Tours,  from  which  he  derives  his  name  of  ' '  Turon- 


HILDEBERT  AND  HIS  HYMN,  181 

ensis."  He  was  of  humble  origin  and  not  connected  with  the 
celebrated  family  of  Lavardia,  except  through  the  accident  of  his 
birthplace  being  in  their  vicinity. 

Perhaps — if  we  follow  one  scurrilous  old  biographer — we  may 
fancy  the  holy  Hildebert  to  have  been  very  little  of  a  saint  in  his 
early  days.  Baronius  indeed  lends  color  to  the  assertion  (made 
originally  by  Godfrey,  the  Dean  of  Le  Mans)  that  the  vices  which 
Hildebert  afterward  attacked  were  matters  of  personal  experience, 
with  himself.  A  certain  coarse  assault  was  undoubtedly  made' 
upon  him  ;  but  envy  and  malignity  went  even  to  greater  lengths 
then  than  now — and  they  are  not  noticeably  moderate  or  truthful 
at  present.  He  was  a  "  wise  and  gentle  prelate,"  says  Trench, 
"  although  not  wanting  in  courage  to  dare,  and  fortitude  to  en 
dure,  when  the  cause  of  truth  required  it."  Neander's  estimate 
of  his  character  (The  Life  of  Si.  Bernard)  is  also  kind.  I  doubt, 
therefore,  whether  any  such  statements  can  be  maintained.  But 
we  all  know  too  well  what  that  age  was,  for  us  to  be  over-enthusi 
astic  in  the  defence  of  our  favorites.  And  still  it  can  truly  be  said 
that  Hildebert  established  his  innocence  there  and  then.  He 
finally  died  in  1134,  and  his  works,  with  those  of  Marbod,  were 
collected  and  published  in  Paris  by  the  Benedictines,  at  the  com 
paratively  recent  date  of  1708.  His  hymn,  Oratio  devohssima  ad 
ires  Personas  Sanctissimae  Trinitatis,  first  appeared  in  the  Appendix 
to  Archbishop  Ussher's  De  Symbolis  (1660),  and  again  was  pub 
lished  by  the  Norman  Jacques  Hommey  in  1684. 

The  poem  is,  as  Chancellor  Benedict  has  well  said,  almost  epic 
in  its  completeness.  And  I  can  do  no  better  than  to  summarize 
it  in  his  own  words — for  he  linked  his  name  to  it  by  a  translation 
which  he  published  in  1867  :  "Its  beginning  [is]  the  knowledge 
of  God — Fides  orthodoxa — the  true  creed,  as  to  the  Three  Persons 
of  the  Holy  Trinity,  exhibiting  their  attributes  as  the  foundation 
of  the  Christian  character  ;  its  middle,  the  weakness,  the  trials, 
and  the  temptations  of  the  Christian  life,  in  its  progress  to  perfect 
trust  and  confidence  in  God  and  assurance  of  His  final  grace  ,;  its 
end,  the  joys  and  glories  of  the  heavenly  home  of  the  blessed." 
It  has  been  greatly  neglected,  as  any  one  will  find  who  looks  for 
it  outside  of  the  most  recent  collections  of  sacred  Latin  poetry. 
Why  this  has  been  so,  except  because  the  praise  of  Mary  and  of 
the  saints  was  more  congenial  to  collectors  than  a  lofty  and  pure 


1 82  LATIN  HYMNS, 

spiritual  fervor,  it  is  not  easy  to  discern.  Hugo  of  St.  Victor — 
Hildebert's  contemporary — does  actually  quote  six  lines,  but  calls 
the  author  quidam,  or,  as  we  would  say,  "  somebody,"  in  referring 
to  these  half  dozen  verses  extracted  to  give  point  to  his  own  dis 
course.  Yet  Hildebert  was  in  his  day  a  most  important  person 
age,  not  below  the  persecution  of  a  king  of  England,  and  not 
above  a  quarrel  with  a  king  of  France.  But  he  and  the  king  were 
reconciled  at  last,  and  with  honor. 

That  Professor  Longfellow  is  not  indebted  to  Trench's  text  for 
his  little  quotations,  is  shown  by  a  curious  fact.  The  Sacred 
Latin  Poetry  of  Archbishop  (then  Dean)  Trench  was  first  published 
in  1849,  and  the  "  Golden  Legend  "  appeared  in  Boston  in  1851 
— the  time  seeming  to  indicate  that  the  poet  had  been  reading  in 
the  small  book  of  the  prelate.  But  Professor  March  has  very 
acutely  noticed  that  the  Church  of  England,  in  the  person  of  its 
editor,  did  a  great  deal  of  expurgation,  and  that  the  lines 

"  Cujus  claves  lingua  Petri, 
Cujus  cives  semper  laeti," 

are  not  included  by  Trench  at  all  !  It  was  not  proper,  the  Dean 
thought,  to  encourage  Romish  superstitions,  and  so  Peter  and  his 
keys  were  omitted.  It  is  not  impossible  that  Longfellow  took  his 
text  from  a  little  volume  published  at  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  in  1844, 
which  contains  "  The  Hymn  of  Hildebert  and  the  Ode  of  Xavier, 
with  English  Versions,"  probably  by  Dr.  Henry  Mills,  professor 
in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Auburn,  who  also  published  a 
volume  of  translations  of  German  hymns  (1845  and  1856).  Dr. 
Mills  reprints  the  entire  hymn  from  Ussher,  but  ignores  in  his 
translation  the  lines 

"  Deus  pater  tantum  Dei 
Virgo  mater  est,  sed  Dei. ' ' 

The  book  is  memorable  as  the  first  American  publication  in  this 
field.  Besides  the  American  translations  by  Dr.  Mills  and  Chan 
cellor  Benedict,  there  are  English  versions  by  Crashaw,  by  John 
Mason  Neale,  and,  best  of  all,  by  Herbert  Kynaston  in  the  Lyra 
Mystica  (London,  1869),  copied  from  his  Occasional  Hymns. 

Further  to  speak  of  Hildebert,  it  can  be  said  that  he,  like  others, 
took  his  share  of  imprisonments,  confiscations,  and  exiles. 


HILDEBERT  AND  HIS  HYMN.  183 

Trench  quotes  from  his  poetry  two  compositions  in  hexameter 
and  pentameter — classic  in  language,  but  not  always  classic  in 
prosody  ;  and  two  complete  poems,  one  of  which  is  the  famous 
hymn,  and  which  commences 

"  A  et  Q  magne  Deus." 

The  other  is  a  vision  and  lament  over  the  Church  of  Poitiers.  Of 
this  the  editor  says  :  "  I  know  of  no  nobler  piece  of  versification, 
nor  more  skilful  management  of  rhyme  in  the  whole  circle  of 
Latin  rhymed  poetry."  It  begins 

"  Nocte  quadam,  via  fessus" — 

an  important  hint  for  a  person  who  wishes  to  find  anything  in  the 
German  anthologies,  where,  as  a  rule,  the  indexing  is  hideous  and 
the  arrangement  is  heartrending,  and  the  poems  are  designated, 
hitor-miss,  by  their  initial  line. 

The  poem  De  Exilio  Suo,  beginning 

1 '  Nuper  erant  locuples,  multisqut  beatus  amicis, ' ' 

is  an  example  of  the  classic  measures  into  which  I  have  tried  to 
shape  my  own  rendering,  although  I  have  copied  Hildebert  even 
in  his  inaccuracies  and  repetitions  : 

UPON   HIS   EXILE. 

Once  I  was  rich  and  blessed  with  friends  beyond  measure, 

And,  for  awhile,  Fortune  was  prosperous  too. 
You  would  have  said  that  the  gods  had  heard  my  petition, 

And  that  success  had  taught  me  to  conquer  anew. 
Often  I  said  to  myself :  "  What  means  this  wealthy  condition  ? 

What  does  it  claim,  this  swift  great  store  of  my  gain  ?" — 
Woe  to  myself  !  for  faith  and  confidence  perish  ; 

Even  my  property  teaches  how  I  have  heaped  it  in  vain  ! 
Lightly  the  wing  sweeps  men  and  the  things  that  they  cherish, 

And  from  the  highest  station  ruin  pours  down  to  the  plain. 
What  you  possess  to-day,  perchance  you  will  lose  by  to-morrow. 

Or,  indeed,  as  you  speak,  it  ceases  perhaps  to  be  yours. 
These  are  the  tricks  of  our  fate  ;  and  haughtiest  kings  to  their  sorrow, 

And  humblest  slaves  shall  find  that  no  future  endures. 
Lo,  what  is  Man  !  and  what  has  he  right  to  inherit  ? 

What  is  the  thing  that  his  wretchedness  claims  as  its  own  ? 
This,  this  only  is  man  ;  the  years  press  down  on  his  spirit 

Always  in  saddest  condition  to  utter  his  final  groan. 


1 84  LATIN  HYMNS. 

It  is  man's  lot  to  have  nothing— in  nakedness  coming  ;  and  going 

Back  to  his  mother's  breast  to  bear  her  no  riches  again. 
It  is  man's  lot  to  decay,  his  dust  on  the  desert  bestowing, 

And  by  sad  steps  to  climb  to  the  pyre  of  his  pain. 
Such  is  his  heirship  of  good,  and  here  upon  earth  he  may  gather 

Nothing  more  certain  than  these,  the  spoils  of  a  vanishing  fate. 
Riches  and  honor  may  greet  him,  yea,  be  his  servants  the  rather  ; 

Wealthy  at  morn  though  his  station,  poor  shall  at  night  be  his  state 
Nor  can  a  man  discern  the  permanent  law  of  possession 

Save  as  he  seeks  to  discover  the  nature  of  mortal  affairs. 
Yet  does  God  give  them  their  law,  conferring  them  through  his  concession 

Unto  the  weak  by  his  grace  ;  and  their  going  and  coming  he  shares. 
He  by  himself  alone  provides  for  and  manages  solely, 

Nor  does  he  doubt  to  provide  nor  vary  in  management  still. 
For  what  he  sees  to  be  done  he  does,  and  his  ruling  is  wholly 

Laborless,  fixing  the  form  and  the  time  and  the  bounds  of  his  will. 
Yea,  through  his  zeal  for  our  growth  he  places  our  limits  and  changes 

These  by  his  occult  laws,  himself  remaining  the  same. 
Himself  remaining  the  same,  while  sickness  and  health  he  arranges, 

Swaying  the  world  and  showing  how  hope  must  be  set  on  his  name. 
If  it  be  right  to  trust  thee,  then,  all  that  thou  doest  or  takest 

He  is  behind  it,  O  Fortune,  and  he  is  the  source  of  thy  strength. 
Nay,  I  affirm,  O  Fortune,  however  thou  fixest  or  shakest 

Thou  canst  not  grieve  me,  nor  overmuch  cheer  me  at  length. 
He  is  almighty  and  tender,  the  concord  and  trust  of  my  treasure  ; 

I  shall  be  his  forever,  when  all  his  purpose  is  through  ! 

It  may  perhaps  be  well  for  us  to  observe  the  characteristics  of 
Hildebert  as  we  discover  them  in  his  hymn.  They  will  be  found 
to  be  those  of  an  oratorical  repetition,  and  indeed  of  that  "  fatal 
octosyllabic"  fluency,  demonstrated  in  later  times  by  Skelton,  by 
Butler,  and  by  Scott.  To  a  certain  degree  the  verse  is  incapable 
of  anything  large  or  exultant  But  it  is  admirable  for  the  purpose 
to  which  he  puts  it.  Indeed,  I  knew  no  better  way,  when  Hilde- 
bert's  best  admirer  passed  from  this  to  a  nobler  world,  than  to 
express  my  own  sadness  in  similar  Latin  ;  and  I  venture  to  close 
this  chapter  with  the  closing  lines  of  that  tribute.  Mr.  E.  C.  Bene 
dict  made  it  his  happiest  recreation  to  turn  the  strains  of  these 
ancient  singers  into  modern  verse.  And  it  seemed  fitting  that  he 
should  be  commemorated  in  the  very  rhythm  he  loved  so  well  : 

"  Vir  honeste,  vir  praeclare  ! 
Tibi  quidvis  possim  dare 
His  versiculis  confeci  ; 
Hie,  coronam  superjeci. 


IIILDEBERT  AND  HIS  HYMN.  185 

Autem,  illic,  lux  perennis 
Proferet  floresque  pennis 
Aves  pictis  puro  die  ; — 
Nihil  deest,  O  tu  pie  ! 
Tu  qui  terra  serus  abis 
Christum  unice  laudabis. 
Vale  !  quia  non  moraris  ; 
Ave  !  quia  nunc  laetaris  !" 


"  Unto  thee  sincere  and  worthy 
Here  I  bring  a  tribute  earthy. 
In  these  verses  I  have  pressed  it ; 
Here  upon  thy  tomb  I  rest  it. 
But  thyself,  in  light  eternal 
Seest  flowers  ;  and  birds  supernal 
Brightly  flit  through  sunny  portals — 
Thou  dost  lack  no  joy  of  mortals  ! 
Thou  who  late  from  us  dost  sever 
There  shall  praise  the  Lord  forever  ! 
Farewell  !  for  thou  wilt  not  linger  ; 
Hail  !  for  thou  art  there  a  singer  !" 

Yes,  when  once  these  old  monks  "  soared  beyond  chains  and 
prison" — when  they  dreamed  by  night  and  talked  by  day  of  the 
land  that  is  very  far  off — they  drew  to  them  all  loving  hearts  from 
the  most  distant  ages.  Doubtless  Hildebert  knew — and  rejoiced 
in  knowing — that  his  aspirations  had  been  caught  in  a  modern 
city  and  by  a  weary  lawyer,  who  found  rest  and  peace  in  their 
strain.  And  doubtless  in  the  perfectness  of  the  present  rejoicing 
they  both  see  and  love  what  they  once  sighed  to  obtain. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

BERNARD    OF     CLAIRVAUX. 

THERE  is  no  lack  of  material  for  a  copious  account  of  Bernard 
of  Clairvaux.  He  was  a  man  to  become  distinguished  in  any  age 
of  the  world,  and  he  took  and  maintained  the  highest  place  of  his 
time.  His  faults  are  as  patent  as  his  virtues.  But,  if  he  had  not 
these  faults,  he  would  never  have  enjoyed  certain  kinds  of  success. 
His  very  austerity  was  a  merit  when  it  held  his  keen  intellect 
steadily  to  its  mark.  And  his  intolerance,  narrowness,  ambition, 
and  love  of  dialectics,  were  themselves  a  part  of  the  great  demand 
which  his  generation  made  upon  him. 

I  shall  be  responsible  here  simply  for  a  condensation  and  com 
pilation  of  facts,  a  very  different  proceeding  from  that  which  is 
usually  needed.  In  the  case  of  almost  all  these  hymn-writers  the 
materials  are  so  slight  and  meagre  as  to  require  large  research  ;  in 
this  case  one  is  overwhelmed  with  riches.  I  do  not  profess  to  say 
how  many  lives  of  Bernard  have  been  written,  but  I  know  of  a 
goodly  number  ;  and  no  history  of  his  time  has  failed  to  give 
attention  to  so  prominent  a  figure  in  religion  and  in  statecraft. 

He  was  singularly  situated  in  point  of  time  and  place.  Born  in 
Burgundy,  not  far  from  Dijon,  of  a  righting  family,  who  owned  a 
castle  and  were  well  represented  in  the  wars,  he  saw  the  light  in 
1091.  His  father  Tesselin  was  a  man  who  had  learned  in  the 
school  of  Christ  to  be  more  careful  not  to  wrong  his  neighbor  than 
not  to  be  wronged  by  him.  His  mother  Alith  was  the  model 
chatelaine  of  the  times,  full  of  kindness  to  the  poor  and  helpful 
ness  to  the  needy.  He  was  born  at  the  omphalos  and  centre  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  Peter  the  Hermit  whirled  along  his  wild  bat 
talions  almost  beside  his  very  cradle.  The  little  lad  of  four  years 
must  have  seen  the  strange  excited  throngs,  with  their  red  crosses 
and  their  banners,  and  in  the  dust  of  their  passing  and  in  the 
chants  of  their  praise,  he  must  have  been  conscious  of  a  certain 
enthusiasm  which  was  to  run  throughout  his  life. 


BERNARD   OF  CLAIRVAUX.  187 

For  several  years  this  news  was  to  men  the  staple  of  all  conver 
sation.  The  body  of  their  own  duke  was  finally  brought  back 
from  Palestine  to  his  ancient  heritage,  and  laid,  by  his  own  desire, 
in  the  cemetery  of  the  poor  monks  of  Citeaux.  There,  in  this 
comparatively  recent  monastery  near  Dijon,  he  had  selected  his 
last  home,  in  preference  to  many  more  opulent  and  renowned 
establishments.  The  son  of  Burgundy's  vassal  Tesselin  beheld 
this  and  other  incidents.  His  brothers  went  to  the  wars  with  the 
next  duke,  but  he  himself  grew  less  and  less  inclined  toward  such 
pursuits.  Books  formed  his  world.  His  cell  was  afterward  said 
to  be  stored  with  them  ;  and  he  obtained  easily  the  credit  of  being 
the  best  instructed  person  of  his  time  in  the  Bible  and  in  the 
works  of  the  fathers  of  the  Church. 

And  already  these  tendencies  were  aroused  in  the  youth  of  eigh 
teen  or  nineteen  years  who  had  begun  the  old-fashioned  austerities 
on  his  own  account.  We  are  not  surprised  to  find  him  neck-deep 
in  ice-water  ;  stung  into  intellectual  vigor  by  the  recent  victory  of 
Abelard  over  William  of  Champeaux  ;  aroused  into  an  actual 
preaching  fervor,  in  which  he  denounces  the  sins  of  the  age  ; 
continually  mindful  of  his  dead  mother  Alith's  prayers,  and 
finally  resolved  upon  entering  the  monastic  order  and  upon  carry 
ing  all  his  friends  and  relations  with  him. 

That  singular  mastery  of  other  minds,  which  was  his  at  every 
period  henceforth,  now  displayed  itself.  It  did  not  matter  that 
his  brother  Guido  had  a  wife  and  family  ;  nor  that  his  brother 
Gerard  loved  to  fight  a  good  deal  better  tfian  he  loved  to  pray. 
Into  the  cloister  they  must  go  !  Gerard  indeed  was  something 
after  the  manner  of  Lot's  wife,  disposed  to  look  back.  But  his 
brother  touched  him  on  the  side,  and  by  some  strange  prescience 
or  happy  guess,  predicted  to  him  a  spear-wound,  which  actually 
happened.  On  being  thus  remarkably  warned,  the  soldier  relented 
as  they  carried  him  wounded  off  the  field,  and  cried,  "I  turn 
monk,  monk  of  Citeaux."  This  was  the  Gerard  over  whom, 
long  afterward,  Bernard  delivered  that  touching  sermon,  where  he 
branched  out  from  the  Song  of  Solomon  (i  :  5)  to  declare  that 
this  body  "  is  not  the  mansion  of  the  citizen,  nor  the  house  of  the 
native,  but  either  the  soldier's  tent  or  the  traveller's  inn  ;"  and 
then  poured  forth  his  full  heart  in  a  tide  of  uncontrollable  and 
lofty  grief. 


1 88  LATIN  HYMNS. 

So  the  youth  marched  into  the  poor  monastery  of  Citeaux, 
where  scanty  food,  rough  clothing,  harsh  surroundings  and  occa 
sional  epidemic  disorders  had  nearly  disheartened  and  broken  up 
the  company  of  monks.  Stephen  Harding,  their  English  abbot, 
was  proudly  indifferent  to  all  patronage  ;  but  he  was  not  so  blind 
as  not  to  perceive  that  Bernard,  with  thirty  captives  of  the  bow 
and  spear  of  his  eloquence,  was  a  valuable  addition  to  a  depleted 
community. 

These  Cistercians,  then  and  always,  were  rigidists.  Up  they 
got  at  two  in  the  morning  to  prayer  and  "  matins  ;"  and  for  full 
two  hours  were  busy,  in  a  cold  dark  chapel,  over  them.  Then, 
with  the  first  dawn  of  light,  out  again  to  "  lauds."  Before  this 
service,  and  after  it,  the  monk's  time  was  fairly  his  own  ;  but  at 
two  o'clock  he  dined,  at  nightfall  he  had  "vespers,"  and  at 
six  or  eight  (according  to  the  season)  came  "compline,"  and 
then  immediately  the  dormitory  and  bed.  Such  was  the  life, 
with  a  little  more  of  it  on  Sundays,  and  with  sermons  inter 
spersed  at  intervals.  There  is  no  mention  of  breakfast  or  sup 
per  ! 

And  in  such  a  life  the  ecstatic,  mystical  character  of  Bernard 
rose  into  visions  and  prophecies.  His  body  was  nearly  subjugated, 
and  his  taste,  and,  indeed,  all  his  senses,  appeared  to  have  deserted 
him.  He  watched,  he  dug,  he  hewed  and  carried  wood  ;  he  kept 
the  very  letter,  and  more  than  the  letter  of  his  monastic  rule. 
And  yet,  as  Morison  acutely  observes,  this  very  abstraction  from 
people  and  things  gave  him  that  delight  in  nature  from  which,  so 
often  in  the  future,  he  was  to  catch  the  illustration  or  the  inspira 
tion  of  his  discourse.  "  Beeches  and  oaks,"  he  said,  "  had  ever 
been  his  best  teachers  in  the  Word  of  God. ' ' 

But  now  Citeaux  (suddenly  become  prosperous)  must  colonize  ; 
and  who  so  fit  to  lead  the  swarm  from  the  gates  and  found  the  new 
hive  as  this  same  Bernard  ?  Into  his  hands  Abbot  Stephen  puts 
the  cross,  and  he  and  his  twelve  companions  march  solemnly 
across  the  interdicted  boundaries  of  their  little  Cistercian  home, 
and  nearly  a  hundred  miles  to  the  northward.  There  he  chooses 
a  place  which  exhibits,  as  Bernard's  actions  generally  do,  the  far- 
sighted  sagacity  which  takes  mean  and  worthless  matters  and  makes 
them  what,  with  right  handling,  they  are  able  to  become.  It  is  a 
valley — the  "  Valley  of  Wormwood."  It  is  grown  up  with  under- 


BERNARD    OF  CLAIRVAUX.  189 

brush  and  is  a  haunt  of  robbers.  But  here,  with  the  river  Aube 
winding  down  between  the  hills,  with  the  hills  themselves  capable 
of  culture,  and  with  the  future  of  this  little  vale  revealed  to  his 
prophetic  eye,  he  sets  his  cloister  and  calls  it  Clairvaux — "  Fair 
Valley,"  or  "  Brightdale." 

1  wish  that  I  could  quote  the  beautiful  picture  that  Vaughan 
(Hours  with  the  Mystics,  Book  V.,  chap,  i)  has  given  of  this  fine 
enterprise.  We  should  see  Bernard  and  his  monks  chopping  and 
binding  fagots  ;  planting  vines  and  trees  of  goodly  fruit ;  rearing 
their  cloistral  buildings,  when  the  time  arrived,  out  of  the  very 
materials  about  them,  and  so  steadily  transforming  purgatory 
into  paradise.  There  should  we  see  the  river  bending  its  great 
shoulders  to  the  wheels  that  drive  fulling-mill  and  grist-mill  ;  or 
toiling  for  them  in  their  tannery,  or  rilling  their  caldarium.  We 
should  see  the  monks  at  vintage  or  at  harvest ;  pressing  the  clusters 
from  yonder  hill,  or  gathering  the  hay  from  yonder  meadow. 
And  everywhere  throughout  this  busy,  energetic  life,  we  should 
behold  the  wasted  figure  of  their  chief — austere,  sincere,  severe. 
And  we  should  feel  that  unaccountable  personality — that  intrinsic, 
magnetic,  controlling  quality — which  made  this  the  man  above  all 
others  to  be  the  opposer  of  schismatics,  the  counsellor  of  kings, 
the  establisher  of  popes,  and  the  preacher  of  the  Second  Crusade. 
Clairvaux  was  his  kingdom,  and  from  Clairvaux  he  ruled  the 
mediaeval  world. 

His  personal  appearance  was  in  keeping  with  this  idea — it  was 
the  evident  cause  of  an  evident  effect.  He  was  taller  than  the 
middle  height  and  exceedingly  thin.  His  complexion  was  "  clear, 
transparent,  red-and-white  ;"  and  always  he  had  some  color  in 
his  wasted  face.  His  beard  was  reddish,  and — according  to  his 
ancestral  derivation,  called  Sorus  or  "yellow-haired" — his  own 
hair  was  light  and  perhaps  tawny.  This  beard  grows  whiter  in  'the 
course  of  years,  and  these  hollow  cheeks  glow  with  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  orator  as  he  speaks.  Then  he  is  at  his  best  !  He  flings 
aside  all  feebleness  ;  he  disregards  every  consideration  except  the 
truth  ;  he  flashes  and  glitters  as  the  tremendous  squadrons  of  his 
brilliant  logic,  or  still  more  brilliant  exhortation,  press  down  upon 
the  listening  soul.  He  had  indeed  a  perfect  confidence  in  him 
self,  in  his  methods,  and  in  his  ultimate  success.  He  was  like  a 
modern  ocean  steamer,  iron-hulled,  steam-driven,  sharp-prowed, 


I 90  LATIN  HYMNS. 

cutting  through  all  stoims  without  detention,  and  riding  the  wild 
est  waves  in  his  triumphant  course  to  victory. 

There  is  in  Beinard  of  Clairvaux  a  most  singular  combination 
of  the  dreamer  and  the  man  of  affairs.  Vaughan  has  too  admir 
ably  condensed  the  story  of  these  interruptions  and  occupations, 
for  me  to  avoid  quoting,  at  least  this  much,  from  his  capital 
monograph  : 

"Struggling  Christendom, "  he  says,  "sent  incessant  monks 
and  priests,  couriers  and  men-at-arms  to  knock  and  blow  horns  at 
the  gate  of  Clairvaux  Abbey  ;  for  Bernard,  and  none  but  he,  must 
come  out  and  fight  that  audacious  Abelard  ;  Bernard  must  decide 
between  rival  popes,  and  cross  the  Alps,  time  after  time,  to  quiet 
tossing  Italy  ;  Bernard  alone  is  the  hope  of  fugitive  Pope  and 
trembling  Church  ;  he  only  can  win  back  turbulent  nobles,  alien 
ated  people,  recreant  priests,  when  Arnold  of  Brescia  is  in  arms  at 
Rome,  and  when  Catharists,  Petrobrusians,  Waldenses  and 
heretics  of  every  shade,  threaten  the  hierarchy  on  either  side  the 
Alps  ;  and  at  the  preaching  of  Bernard  the  Christian  world  pours 
out  to  meet  the  disaster  of  a  new  crusade. ' ' 

Yet  with  all  this  he  is  a  profound  scholar,  and  his  comments 
on  Scripture  are  of  a  mystical,  and  often  of  a  serenely  spiritual  and 
thoughtful  kind,  as  though  no  intrusion  could  jar  the  harmony 
and  poise  of  his  soul.  His  was  that  strange  contradiction  of 
nature  which  found  its  calm  in  tumult  and  its  ecstasy  in  conflict. 
Obstructions  pass  away. 

Like  that  later  mystic,  Novalis  (Friedrich  von  Hardenberg),  there 
are  no  hindrances  in  his  communion  with  the  unseen  world  ;  he 
could,  perhaps,  do  as  Novalis  did  when  Sophie  Kiihn  died.  For 
the  poor  fellow  records  in  his  diary  :  "  Much  noise  in  the  house. 
I  went  to  her  grave  and  had  a  few  wild  moments  of  joy."  And 
of  him  also  Just  declares  :  "  No  spirit-dream  was  too  high,  no 
business  detail  too  low  ;"  for  Novalis  in  1799  was  "  Assessor  and 
Law-adviser  to  the  Salt  Mines  of  Thuringia."  Pegasus  in  harness 
appears  no  worse  a  contradiction  than  a  mystic  in  a  salt-pan,  or 
a  Bernard  epistolizing  the  Count  of  Champagne  about  a  drove  of 
stolen  pigs. 

Prose  and  poetry,  poetry  and  prose  !  And  yet  the  brain  and 
soul  that  can  do  good  work  in  the  one  are  by  no  means  disquali 
fied  for  the  other  ;  and  your  truest  mystics  are  not  likely  to  wear 


BERNARD   OF  CLAIRVAUX.  191 

long  hair  and  talk  raving  nonsense  among  impractical  neologists. 
For  Bernard,  even  though  he  made  converts  wherever  he  went, 
and  drew  increasing  numbers  into  cloister  walls,  exerted  a  potent 
and  prevalent  influence  upon  his  time.  He  is  one  of  the  light 
houses,  as  we  sail  down  the  coast  of  the  Middle  Ages  ;  and  not 
until  we  pass  him  and  his  compeers,  do  the  real  darkness  and  the 
dull  ignorance,  the  shoals  and  the  unmarked  rocks  appear,  ready 
to  wreck  the  ventures  of  the  mind.  How  gladly  one  would  linger 
over  these  fascinating  incidents  in  this  remarkable  career  !  The 
man's  life  was  expressed  in  some  of  his  own  aphorisms.  They  are 
such  as  these  : 

"  There  is  no  truer  wretchedness  than  a  false  joy."  "  He  does 
not  please  who  pleases  not  himself."  "  You  will  give  to  your 
voice  the  voice  of  virtue  if  you  have  first  persuaded  yourself  of 
what  you  would  persuade  others."  "  Hold  the  middle  line  unless 
you  wish  to  miss  the  true  method. ' ' 

These  are  the  maxims  of  an  orator  as  well  as  of  a  statesman. 
And  the  junction  of  imagination,  analysis,  logic,  fervor,  and  faith, 
made  this  man  what  he  was.  Already  he  had  tried  his  wings  in 
preaching  to  his  own  monks  at  morning  and  evening  ;  and  they 
had  listened  to  him  as  though  he  had  come  from  another  world. 
He  dealt  with  the  great  and  vital  questions  of  the  moral  nature. 
Like  the  best  of  our  modern  preachers,  he  aimed  to  sustain  the 
soul,  to  arouse  and  to  cheer  it,  and  to  bid  it  press  forward  to  a 
victory  which  he  himself  foresaw.  He  might  have  said  of  such 
aspiring  saints  as  surrounded  him  what  Roscoe  says  : 

"  I  see,  or  the  glory  blinds  me 

Of  a  soul  divinely  fair. 
Peace  after  great  tribulation 
And  victory  hung  in  the  air." 

He  felt,  with  Lacordaire,  that  the  Gospel  had  a  new  meaning, 
when  he  discovered  that  it  was  intended  for  the  comfort  of  the 
human  heart.  He  was  at  one  with  his  monks  ;  and  as  he  reached 
out  toward  the  social  life  about  him,  and  toward  the  turbid  tor 
rents  of  politics  and  ecclesiasticism  over  which  he  must  throw  the 
bridge  of  charity  or  of  faith,  he  simply  transferred  the  Clairvaux 
method  into  the  affairs  of  men. 

It  was  an  age  of  destruction,  and  into  it  he  was  casting  the  salt 


192  LATIN  HYMNS. 

of  the  Gospel,  hoping  at  least  to  make  it  salvable.  Around  his 
life  needless  legends  and  superstitious  traditions  have  combined  to 
cluster,  but  the  real  Bernard  is  distinct  from  both.  He  never 
relaxed  his  grip  upon  himself  or  upon  others.  And  while  this  is 
not  yet  the  place  to  speak  of  the  famous  controversy  with  Abelard, 
it  may  be  properly  said  that  Bernard  saw  tendencies  in  that  phi 
losophy  which  were  genuinely  dangerous ;  and  that  he  defeated 
them  because  truth  (however  narrow  and  selfishly  employed)  is 
always  stronger  than  error.  Such  was  also  his  power  in  preaching 
the  crusade  in  1145,  when  he  was  about  fifty -five  years  of  age. 
It  sprang  from  the  quenchless  fire  of  his  zeal,  as  when  at  Vezelai, 
standing  by  the  side  of  Louis  VII.,  he  caused  such  enthusiasm  in 
the  crowd  beneath,  that  he  did  nothing  so  long  as  he  remained  in 
the  town  but  make  crosses  for  them  to  wear  in  sign  of  their  holy 
purpose. 

He  had  lived  to  see  the  Knights  Templars,  which  had  received 
his  own  especial  approval,  become  one  of  the  most  famous  orders 
on  the  globe.  The  Knights  Hospitallers  had  been  incorporated 
in  1113,  and  the  Templars  were  founded  in  1118  by  Hugo  de 
Paganis  and  others.  But  in  1128,  at  the  Council  of  Troyes,  there 
were  but  nine  of  them,  all  told,  to  keep  their  vow  of  "  chastity, 
obedience,  and  poverty,"  to  "  guard  the  passes  and  roads  against 
robbers,"  and  to  "watch  over  the  safety  of  pilgrims."  Hugo 
then  appealed  to  Bernard,  and  by  his  influence  the  council  recog 
nized  this  weak  thing,  destined  so  soon  to  be  a  mighty  force,  and 
which  combined  two  of  the  strongest  of  our  instincts — that  to  fight 
and  that  to  pray.  And  now  as  in  his  old  age  he  saw  the  corrup 
tion  which  was  creeping  into  it  and  into  other  agencies  on  which 
his  heart  had  been  set,  he  relaxed  no  atom  of  his  vigilance.  He 
had  seen  the  failure  of  his  crusade,  but  it  did  not  much  affect 
him.  His  thoughts  were  now  of  heaven,  and  his  watching  was 
that  he  might  be  prepared  to  enter  its  gates.  His  principal  friends 
had  all  died  ;  Suger,  in  1150,  Theobald  of  Champagne,  in  1152, 
and  Pope  Eugenius,  his  loved  disciple,  in  1153. 

It  was  in  this  year  that  Bernard  also  made  himself  ready  to  go. 
On  January  i2th  he  said  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  then,  raising  up 
what  his  admirers  were  wont  to  call  his  "dove-like"  eyes,  he 
prayed  that  God's  will  might  be  done.  And  so,  quietly  and 
peacefully,  he  passed  away.  He  has  left  behind  him  much  as  an 


BERNARD   OF  CLAIRVAUX.  193 

ecclesiast,  but  more  as  a  poet.  I  hold  Bernard  to  be  the  real 
author  of  the  modern  hymn — the  hymn  of  faith  and  worship. 
The  poetry  of  Faber,  which  is  now  so  near  to  the  heart  of  the 
Church,  is  peculiarly  in  this  key.  The  Salve  Caput  cruentatum 
came  to  us  through  Paul  Gerhardt,  and  has  become  (through  the 
translation  of  Dr.  J.  W.  Alexander,  a  man  of  kindred  spirit  with 
Bernard)  our 

"  O  sacred  head,  now  wounded." 

Gerhardt's  own  hymn-writing — the  most  efficient,  except  Lu 
ther's,  in  the  German  tongue — is  wonderfully  affected  by  Bernard. 
The  Jesu  dulcis  memoria  was  rendered  by  Count  Zinzendorf  and 
became  famous  among  those  spiritual  souls,  the  Moravians.  And 
Edward  Caswell's  translations — as  I  have  already  noticed — are 
supremely  fine  in  spirit  and  in  expression.  I  shall  not  attempt  here 
what  has  been  so  capitally  done  already.  The  Church  universal 
has  made  Bernard  her  own  ;  and  the  very  translations  of  his  verses 
have  been  half-inspired.  And  while  we  sing, 

"  Jesus,  the  very  thought  of  thee 
With  sweetness  fills  my  breast." 

we  shall  sing  "  with  the  spirit  and  with  the  understanding,"  the 
very  strain  that  the  Abbot  of  Clairvaux  was  sent  on  earth  to  teach  ! 
They  canonized  him  in  1174 — but  it  is  better  to  have  written  a 
song  for  all  saints  than  to  be  found  in  any  breviary. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


ABELARD. 

FROM  the  foreground  of  the  waving  banners  and  the  flashing 
arms  of  the  Crusaders,  of  the  dark  throng  of  the  chanting  monks, 
and  of  feudal  pageantry  and  glitter — and  from  that  background 
of  dead  uniformity  which  equally  characterized  those  mediaeval  times 
— emerges  a  figure  unique  and  notable.  It  is  that  of  a  man  in 
the  prime  and  pride  of  life — lofty  in  stature,  handsome  in  face, 
captivating  in  address.  He  is  already  a  tried  debater  and  an  un 
surpassed  logician.  He  has  Aristotle  at  the  tip  of  his  tongue  ;  he 
has  read  much  and  thought  a  little,  and  his  ambition  is  great 

Such  a  man  came  one  day  into  the  lecture  hall  of  William  of 
Champeaux  at  Paris.  It  was  in  the  early  part  of  the  twelfth  cen 
tury,  and  William  was  the  most  celebrated  teacher  of  the  period, 
his  "  doctrine  of  universals"  being  accepted  almost  as  though  it 
were  inspired.  But  this  morning,  while  the  master  lectured  and 
the  disciples  drank  in  his  words  without  criticism  or  debate,  the 
visitor  stirred  uneasily  in  his  place.  When  the  lecture  closed  he 
availed  himself  of  the  usual  freedom  to  ask  some  questions.  To 
William's  dogmatic  answers  the  stranger  in  his  turn  proposed 
shrewd  difficulties.  It  was  no  longer  the  harmony  of  teacher  and 
taught,  but  the  clash  of  two  rival  minds  maintaining  opposite 
systems  of  logic.  And  in  that  short  struggle  William  the  Arch 
deacon  went  down  before  the  free  lance  of  Peter  Abelard,  the 
rustic  challenger  from  Palais  (Le  Pallet)  in  Brittany.  And  from 
that  agitation  went  out  the  widening  circles  whose  story  we  are 
now  to  note,  and  whose  latest  ripples  break  faintly  on  a  tomb  in 
Pere-la-Chaise  visited  by  thousands  of  modern  tourists.  Few  tales 
are  sadder  or  more  suggestive. 

The  name  of  Abelard  is  variously  spelled.  It  appears  in  divers 
authorities  as  Abelard,  Abaelard,  Abaielardus,  Abailard,  Abaillarcl, 
Abelhardus,  and  Abeillard.  The  true  name  (on  the  authority  of 
Ch.  de  Remusat)  was,  however,  not  Abelard,  but  Beranger  or 


ABELARD.  195 

Berenger  ;  and  the  future  controversialist  was  christened  Pierre  or 
Peter.  His  birthplace  is  near  Nantes,  the  house  being  represented 
a  few  years  ago  by  a  square  brier-grown  ruin  back  of  the  church. 
The  date  of  his  birth  is  given  as  1079 — a  period  when  the  world 
was  feudal  and  military.  But  this  lad  was  born  for  debate  and 
not  for  battle.  It  may  even  be  seriously  doubted  if  he  ever  pos 
sessed  much  physical  courage  of  a  sort  to  stand  the  rough  shock 
of  actual  warfare.  He  preferred  the  method  of  those  who  inter 
meddle  among  metaphysical  subtleties  to  those  who  must  keep 
sword  edges  sharp  and  armor  furbished.  His  delight  was  to  dis 
pute,  to  be  engaged  in  undertakings 

"  Whose  chief  devotion  lies 
In  odd  perverse  antipathies  ; 
In  falling  out  with  that  or  this 
And  finding  somewhat  still  amiss." 

In  those  days  not  to  be  a  warrior  was  to  be — almost  of  compul 
sion — a  monk.  But  Abelard's  independence  forbade  the  second 
as  his  disputatious  spirit  had  forbidden  the  first.  He  would 
neither  risk  his  neck  in  the  wars  nor  his  opinions  in  the  cloister. 
Instead  of  these  he  preferred  the  irregular  combats  of  the  scholar, 
and  Bayle — with  a  touch  of  poetry — beholds  him  as  he  comes 
shining  out  of  Brittany  "  darting  syllogisms  on  every  side."  Such 
was  Peter  Abelard — vain,  handsome,  opinionated,  bound  to  swear 
by  no  master,  a  mighty  voice  crying  in  the  desert  of  the  Dark 
Ages  for  "  free  speech  and  free  thought." 

The  expedition  to  Paris  hurt  neither  his  reputation  nor  his  purse. 
He  arrived  at  perihelion  as  quickly  as  a  comet  William  of 
Champeaux — having  first  pushed  him  off  and  forced  him  to  lecture 
on  his  own  account  at  Melun  and  Corbeil — found  that  he  returned 
like  a  cork  thrust  under  water.  The  man's  buoyant,  aggressive 
sell-reliance,  not  to  say  self-conceit,  was  never  contented  with  an 
inferior  place.  And  while  Alberic  and  Littulf  and  some  of  the 
older  and  more  staid  of  his  pupils  held  with  William,  it  was  plain 
that  the  popular  favor  inclined  to  the  other  side.  The  younger 
men  were  all  for  Abelard.  The  "  doctrine  of  universals"  was  ex 
ploded  as  if  with  some  of  Friar  Bacon's  "  villainous  saltpetre," 
and  doubtless  the  loss  was  small  enough  to  mankind.  His  prin 
cipal  fort  being  taken,  there  was  nothing  left  for  the  opposing  gen- 


196  LATIN  HYMNS. 

eral  but  a  masterly  retreat.  Hence,  by  a  convenient  arrangement, 
combining  several  advantages,  Guillaume  des  Champeaux  became 
Bishop  of  Chalons-sur-Marne.  And  it  was,  of  course,  beneath  the 
dignity  of  a  bishop  to  hold  lectures  or  to  engage  in  logical  con 
troversies  ! 

But,  as  generally  happens,  a  sand-bag  substitute  was  put  in  the 
bishop's  place  ;  and  Abelard  came  back  to  open  a  school  on  Mt. 
St.  Gencvieve  and  to  bombard  this  professor.  The  battle  was 
short  and  decisive,  for  the  next  we  learn  of  this  nameless  champion 
of  a  defeated  cause,  he  is  absolutely  enrolled  as  a  humble  follower 
of  the  great  logician.  This  is  but  a  fair  sample  of  the  general  suc 
cess  which  attended  the  new  ideas.  Everywhere  they  gained  cur 
rency,  attracting  inquiry,  arousing  envy,  awaking  ecclesiastical 
suspicion,  and  inflaming  the  hatred  of  his  defeated  opponents. 

About  this  time  of  inception  and  premonition,  say  1113, 
Abelard  undertook  to  examine  the  instruction  given  by  William's 
teacher,  Anselm  of  Laon,  who  there  vegetated  as  dean  of  the 
cathedral  church.  We  must  not  confuse  his  name  with  that  of 
the  great  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  whose  method  and  science 
have  outlasted  the  most  of  his  contemporaries,  and  whom  Neander 
styles  "  the  Augustine  of  the  twelfth  century."  Had  he  been 
the  teacher  and  Abelard  the  pupil,  history  might  have  made  a  dif 
ferent  record.  A  profounder  and  a  more  reverent  line  of  thought 
might  have  affected  the  acute  and  daring  mind  of  the  rising  dialecti 
cian.  And,  above  every  other  consideration,  the  new  philosophy 
might  have  contained  those  elements  of  religion  whose  absence 
neutralized  for  centuries  that  wholesome  independence  which  held 
mere  dogmatism  cheap  as  compared  to  the  sacred  light  of  truth. 
It  would,  indeed,  have  been  well  if  such  an  Anselm  had  been  at 
Laon,  but  the  dean  was  a  weak  and  futile  person.  And  so  it  was 
inevitable  that  Abelard  should  again  be  in  trouble  and  almost  in 
disgrace,  but  even  in  his  pathetic  Hisloria  Calamitatum  the  pupil 
did  not  forget  to  satirize  his  master.  "  He  was  that  sort  of  a 
man,"  he  says,  "  that  if  any  went  to  him  being  uncertain  he  re 
turned  more  uncertain  still.  .  .  .  When  he  lit  a  fire  he  filled  his 
house  with  smoke,  but  he  did  not  brighten  it  with  light."  He 
adds,  sarcastically,  that  Anselm's  philosophy  always  suggested  to 
his  mind  the  story  of  the  fig-tree  that  our  Lord  cursed  because  it 
bore  plenty  of  leaves  and  no  fruit. 


ABE  LARD.  197 

Abelard  himself,  however,  was  a  genuine  educator,  and  many 
bishops  and  other  ecclesiastics,  with  nineteen  cardinals  and  two 
popes,  came  from  the  ranks  of  his  pupils.  He  loved  liberty,  al 
though  he  loved  it  to  that  extent  to  which  his  own  will — and  no 
other  authority,  human  or  divine — restricted  it.  In  this  he  dif 
fered  from  Anselm  of  Canterbury,  who  loved  liberty,  not  accord 
ing  to  license  but  according  to  law.  Mere  freedom  to  inquire,  to 
complain,  or  to  theorize,  does  not  invariably  carry  with  it  profitable 
results.  And  Abelard — whose  very  freedom  was  in  itself  a  noble 
revelation  to  the  shackled  intellects  of  his  age — committed  the 
grave  error  of  supposing  that  the  sweep  of  a  free  hand  would  cer 
tainly  give  lines  of  beauty  and  forms  of  grace.  Something  deeper 
than  the  mere  distaste  of  false  opinions  is  needful  for  this.  Art, 
meditation,  truth — all  must  lie  beneath  the  O  of  Giotto  or  the 
masterly  strokes  of  Apelles.  And  our  rhetorician  would  have 
done  well  to  have  confined  himself  to  the  Trivium — grammar, 
rhetoric,  and  dialectics.  When  he  undertook  theology  he  first 
quarrelled  with  Anselm  of  Laon,  and  next  he  encountered  all 
Christendom  and  Bernard  of  Clairvaux.  His  was  the  fatal 
blunder  of  every  "  free  inquirer"  who  forgets  reverence,  and  who, 
in  his  pride  of  intellect,  may  likely  fall  as  the  angels  fell.  Surely 
no  Lucifer  ever  plunged  more  swiftly  down  from  heaven's  battle 
ments  than  did  poor  Peter  Abelard  from  the  dizzy  height  of  his 
sudden  success. 

This  is  no  place  to  criticise  his  "  system,"  if  system  it  can  be 
properly  called.  The  Sic  el  Non — "  Yes  and  No" — his  most 
famous  work,  is  really  a  mere  challenge.  He  quotes  the  Bible 
against  the  Fathers  and  the  Fathers  against  the  Bible,  touching 
on  deep  tideways  and  bogs  and  quicksands  which  he  never 
attempts  to  ford,  fathom,  or  bridge.  The  Arians,  Sabellians, 
Nestorians  and  Pelagians  are  resuscitated  in  these  pages.  He 
flings  their  doubts  before  us  like  a  gauntlet  cast  into  the  arena  of 
debate.  One  may  choose  which  side  he  will  take.  Such  a  man, 
arising  in  the  nineteenth  century  and  claiming  sympathy  with 
Christianity,  would  be  by  some  suspected  as  a  secret  enemy  and 
his  vanity  would  loosen  his  armor  for  the  entrance  of  many  a 
venomed  shaft.  His  genuine  ardor  would  be  misunderstood  and 
his  opinions  would  be  heavily  attacked  before  they  could  deploy 
at  their  full  strength.  If  this  be  true  to-day  how  infinitely  more  true 


198  LATIN  HYMNS. 

must  it  have  been  of  an  age  narrower,  more  illiterate,  and  with  an 
arm  which  wielded  not  in  vain  the  sword  of  excision  against  heretics  ! 

This,  then,  was  the  man  who  in  the  prime  of  manhood  and  at 
the  topmost  peak  of  prosperity  found  himself  with  money  in  his 
pocket,  in  Paris,  and  his  own  master.  He  had  not  yet  said  of 
the  dogmas  of  Mother  Church  as  Luther  said  of  Tetzel,  "  By 
God's  help  I  will  go  down  and  beat  a  hole  in  your  drum." 
Hitherto  he  had  safely  kept  to  Aristotle — at  once  the  blessing  and 
the  bane  of  Middle-Age  reasoners — and  he  had  the  vainglorious 
sense  that  five  thousand  students  hung  breathless  on  his  words. 
He  considered  himself  upon  the  firmest  footing  that  one  could 
desire,  and  behold,  he  fell ! 

The  "  damned  spot"  of  Abelard's  character  is  that  which,  after 
all,  has  insured  his  fame.  And,  since  it  is  indispensable,  a  few 
sentences  must  exhibit  it  in  its  repulsive  ugliness.  Fortunately, 
or  unfortunately,  we  do  not  need  the  help  of  any  other  biographer 
than  his  own  bitter  soul.  His  Hisloria  Calamitatum  is  the  sufficient 
history.  In  this  he  tells  us  that  his  life  had  been  previously  irre 
proachable  and  of  the  strictest  moral  correctness.  Now,  however, 
he  began  to  "  let  himself  go" — how  far,  or  how  fast,  it  is  of  no 
use  for  us  to  investigate.  But  Fulbert,  the  Canon  of  the  Cathedral 
of  Notre  Dame,  had  a  perfect  Hypatia  for  a  niece,  and  to  this  lady 
Abelard's  gaze  was  turned. 

She  was  eighteen,  and  there  was  an  irresistible  charm  about  her, 
as  of  some  fragrant  white  lily.  She  was  a  woman  fit  to  lend  grace 
and  beauty  to  prosaic  surroundings.  And  Abelard  has  the  un 
speakable  audacity  to  declare  that  he,  a  man  of  thirty-eight,  delib 
erately  selected  this  pure  and  perfect  flower  and  meant  to  take  it 
for  himself.  Not  to  marry  ;  for  the  truth  demands  that  we  should 
perceive  his  own  thorough  appreciation  of  the  fact  that  marriage 
would  sink  him  out  of  the  ranks  of  scholars  into  those  of  trades 
men  and  would  be  the  death-blow  to  his  ambition.  Not  to  marry  ; 
for  it  was  a  bad  age,  and  sin  sometimes  clothed  itself  in  the  cowl 
of  the  monk  and  the  robe  of  the  prelate,  and  such  a  sin  was  better 
forgiven  than  such  a  blunder.  Let  all '  contemporaneous  history 
bear  witness  !  For  every  account  of  the  lives  of  Heloise  and 
Abelard  reveals  the  impossibility  of  passing  these  unpleasant  facts 
without  notice  or  comment.  On  this  pivot  turns  the  golden 
world  of  that  deathless  love. 


ABELARD.  199 

So  the  avaricious  Fulbert  took  Abelard  to  dwell  in  his  own 
house,  and  gave  his  niece's  education  entirely  into  his  care,  and, 
as  her  teacher  himself  expresses  it,  delivered  her  "  like  a  lamb  to 
a  hungry  wolf. ' ' 

Heloise  was  probably  the  better  educated  of  the  two.  She  was 
the  child  of  unknown  parents.  Bayle  asserts  that  she  was  the 
daughter  of  a  priest,  and  his  facilities  and  laboriousness  respecting 
such  abstruse  particulars  no  one  will  question.  The  authority 
from  which  he  is  possibly  quoting,  says  that  this  priest  was  John 
"  Somebody"  (nescio  cujus)  and  a  canon  of  the  same  cathedral 
with  Fulbert  at  Paris.  Doubtless  the  trace  of  her  ancestry  is 
utterly  lost  to  us  beyond  these  meagre  items.  Even  Fulbert's 
alleged  relationship  has  been  questioned.  But  the  scholarship  of 
Heloise  speaks  for  itself  in  a  terse,  sparkling  Latin  style,  which  is 
as  pleasant  beside  Abelard's  lumbering  sentences  as  a  bright 
mountain  brook  beside  a  turbid  and  turbulent  stream.  Count  de 
Bussy-Rabutin — no  mean  critic — has  put  on  record  that  he  never 
read  more  elegant  Latin.  She  also  understood  Greek  and  Hebrew, 
with  neither  of  which,  strange  to  say,  was  Abelard  acquainted. 
And  at  first  blush  it  would  seem  that  the  teacher  should  have  been 
the  pupil. 

Absolute  justice  requires  that  the  ugly  and  disgraceful  slurs  in 
the  Hisloria  Calamitatum,  and  even  in  the  correspondence,  should 
not  be  overlooked.  Here  is  what  will  serve  for  a  fair  example. 
He  says  of  her,  Quae  cum  per  faciem  non  essel  infima,  per  abundan- 
tiam  litter  arum  erat  suprema — while  she  was  not  exactly  the  worst- 
looking  of  them,  she  was  the  best  educated  ;  and  therefore  he 
selected  her  !  The  spretae  injuria  formae  never  went  further  than 
this.  But  this  is  by  no  means  the  solitary  instance  of  that  low 
snarl  in  which  the  currish  nature  of  the  Breton  rustic  now  and  then 
indulged. 

What,  then,  could  have  been  the  spell  by  which  this  charming 
\voman  drew  Christendom  after  her  ?  Popes  and  bishops  called 
her  "beloved  daughter,"  priests  entitled  her  "sister,"  and  all 
laymen  laid  claim  to  her  as  "  mother."  If  she  were  not  so  beauti 
ful  as  some  authorities  positively  state,  she  must  certainly  have 
been  marvellously  captivating.  But  chiefest  of  her  many  graces 
was  her  crowning  loyalty  and  love.  It  showed  itself  in  perfect 
sympathy,  in  entire  self-devotion.  Michelet,  indeed,  has  observed 


200  LATIN  HYMNS. 

that  the  legend  of  Abelard  and  Heloise  is  all  that  has  survived  in 
France  out  of  the  story  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Nor  has  the  unanimity  of  literary  judgment  upon  these  lovers 
been  less  remarkable  than  the  interest  which  they  have  inspired. 
With  one  voice  Abelard  is  condemned  and  with  one  voice  Heloise 
is  extolled.  "  She  was,"  says  a  brilliant  writer,  "  a  great,  heroic 
woman,  one  of  those  formed  out  of  the  finest  clay  of  humanity. ' ' 
"With  the  Grecian  fire,"  says  another,  "she  had  the  Roman 
firmness."  And  even  the  rude  picture  which  the  mechanical 
touch  of  Alexander  Pope  has  painted,  leaves  to  us  in  the  "  Epistle 
of  Heloise"  a  trace  of  the  same  beauty,  and  affords  one  line — 

"  And  graft  my  love  immortal  on  thy  fame" — 

which  only  needs  to  be  reversed  in  order  to  be  prophetic.  Mori- 
son's  tribute  is  both  nobler  and  more  acute,  for  he  testifies,  "  She 
walked  through  life  with  ever-reverted  glances  on  the  glory  of  her 
girlish  love."  It  was  the  same  thought  which  Dante — after 
Boethius — puts  into  the  lips  of  Francesca — 

"  There  is  no  greater  sorrow 
Than  to  be  mindful  of  the  happy  time 
In  misery,  and  that  thy  Teacher  knows." 

Nay,  it  is  even  the  very  cameo  out  of  Tennyson  : 

"  As  when  a  soul  laments,  which  hath  been  blessed, 

Desiring  what  is  mingled  with  past  years, 
In  yearnings  that  can  never  be  expressed 
By  sighs,  or  groans,  or  tears." 

This  is  the  heart  which  Abelard  won.  Winning  it  he  won,  and 
forever  held,  the  woman  whose  it  was.  From  that  moment  she 
merged  her  whole  existence  in  his  with  a  complete  and  utter 
abandonment  of  self,  to  the  perfectness  of  which  let  her  epistles 
from  the  Paraclete  bear  testimony.  Across  this  story  of  undeviat- 
ing  devotion  Abelard' s  vanity,  pride,  and  coarseness  are  written 
with  smears  and  stains,  like  an  illiterate  monk  who  blots  his  com 
ments  upon  a  precious  missal  full  of  saints  and  angels.  For,  first 
of  his  offences,  he  revealed  this  love  of  his  by  really  becoming  a 
troubadour.  He  composed  verses  in  the  Romance  tongue,  re 
counting  their  loves,  and  set  them  to  such  stirring  tunes  that  all 
.the  world  was  soon  singing  them.  Hence  grew  the  legend  that 


ABELARD.  2OI 

the  "  Romance  of  the  Rose"  (Roman  de  la  Rose)  was  his  com 
position.  It  undoubtedly  contains  their  story,  but  it  was  not  his 
work  ;  it  belongs  to  William  de  Loris  and  Jean  de  Meung.  But, 
as  for  Heloise,  she  was  delighted.  What  would  have  been  a  crown 
of  sorrow  to  other  women  was  to  her  a  crown  of  joy.  She  even 
announced  to  Abelard  "  with  the  utmost  exultation"  the  advent 
of  that  unhappy  being  christened  Astrolabe  and  destined  to  pass 
his  forsaken  and  lonely  existence  shut  up  in  a  cloister.  That 
people  sang  of  this  love  ;  that  it  went  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  ; 
that  nothing  could  prevent  its  being  known — these  were  the  happi 
nesses  of  Heloise.  Of  the  merit  of  the  songs  we  cannot  ourselves 
decide.  They  were  originally  anonymous,  and  only  those  familiar 
with  the  crabbed  French  of  that  period  may  hope  to  find  them 
again. 

Meanwhile,  though  the  lectures  suffered,  and  the  students  saw, 
and  all  Paris  smiled,  Fulbert  was  totally  in  the  dark.  This  con 
dition  of  affairs  was  predestined  to  come  to  an  end,  and  it  came 
in  storm  and  anger.  Abelard  saw  himself  forced,  against  his  will, 
to  marry  secretly.  It  was  a  sling  to  his  egotism  that  ever  rankled. 
It  served,  though,  to  pacify  Fulbert  and  the  rest  of  the  relations  ; 
and  being  too  glad  and  too  loose-tongued  to  keep  this  handsome 
alliance  from  the  public  they  presently  told  everybody.  Heloise, 
thereupon,  fearing  for  Abelard' s  ambitious  schemes,  did  not  shrink 
from  a  point-blank  falsehood.  She  denied  the  marriage.  She 
had  been  in  Brittany  and  was  now  at  Argenteuil,  of  which  she 
was  by  and  by  to  become  the  abbess.  And  she  added  to  her 
denial  the  self-abnegating  sentiment  that  Abelard,  who  was  created 
for  all  mankind,  ought  not  to  be  sacrificed  by  "bondage  to  a 
woman."  It  was  worthy  of  her  who  so  admired  the  "  philosophic 
Aspasia,"  and  whose  tutor  and  lover  had  done  what  he  could  to 
make  her  as  "  free  from  superstition"  as  himself.  Her  moral 
ideas  were  what  he  taught  her,  and  he  could  not  unteach  them. 

Among  the  complaisant  and  agreeable  nuns  of  Argenteuil  she 
now  resided.  It  was  but  a  few  miles  from  Paris.  Her  husband 
frequently  went  thither,  and  in  a  short  time  thereafter  she  was 
enrolled  as  a  novice.  The  fact  aroused  her  relatives,  and  their 
mutterings  became  ominous  ;  Fulbert,  especially,  taking  this  act  in 
high  dudgeon,  as  though  it  meant  the  premeditated  repudiation 
of  his  niece.  Their  anger  did  not  stop  at  words,  but,  knowing 


202  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Abelard's  popularity,  and  fearing  to  attack  him  during  the  day, 
they  bribed  his  valet  and  assaulted  him  by  night  in  his  own  apart 
ment. 

It  was  this  blow  which  flung  Abelard  from  heaven  to  hell.  His 
hitherto  impregnable  attitude  ;  his  fierce  zeal  for  his  opinions  ; 
his  hopes  of  a  new  philosophy  which  should  make  his  name  im 
mortal,  all  vanished  before  it  as  spider-webs  break  before  a  sword. 
And  when,  conscious  that  he  was  no  more  a  god  and  a  hero,  but 
an  insulted  and  defeated  man,  he  rose  from  his  bed  of  pain,  the 
prospect  was  not  improved.  The  outpoured  indignation  of 
bishops  and  canons  and  clergy — the  lamentations  of  the  women 
and  the  students — did  not  appease  him.  A  whisper  was  in  his 
soul  like  that  of  Haman's  wife.  Mordecai,  the  despised,  was  com 
ing  to  the  kingdom  and  the  Agagite  was  doomed. 

There  were  reasons  which  led  him  to  think  of  seeking  aid  from 
the  Pope  against  his  enemies.  But  Fulk  of  Deuil,  his  good 
friend,  advised  him  not  to  try  it.  "  You  have  no  money,"  said 
honest,  plain  spoken  Fulk,  "  and  what  can  you  do  at  Rome  with 
out  money  ?"  It  was  bitter  truth.  Yet  the  Abbe  Migne,  for 
getting  the  much  worse  things  Bernard  had  said  of  the  Roman 
Curia  in  the  treatise  De  Consider atione,  exscinds  the  passage  from 
Fulk's  letter  on  the  ground  that  it  would  cause  "scandal  to 
Catholic  ears."  Edification  first,  truth  afterward,  if  at  all  ! 

Therefore,  with  a  poisoned  soul,  he  sought  the  Abbey  of  St 
Denis  to  hide  himself  from  the  gaze  of  the  world.  To  a  man  so 
proud  a  life  without  imperial  power  was  a  living  death.  Yet  from 
those  walls  he  issues  his  edict  that  Heloise  shall  take  the  veil. 
His  vanity  led  him  to  carry  out  the  original  cause  of  hostility  even 
to  its  unalterable  result.  But  Heloise,  whatever  she  might  have 
thought  or  felt,  marched  with  lofty  resignation  to  her  fate.  Quot 
ing  aloud — as  his  confession  pitifully  recalls — the  words  of  Cornelia 
to  Pompey  from  the  "  Pharsalia"  of  Lucan,  she  takes  the  vows. 
Never  was  there  less  of  religion  in  such  a  ceremony  !  Henceforth 
she  walks  like  the  moon  in  distant  brightness,  coming  to  meet  us 
down  the  ages  as  conies  the  Queen  Louise  of  Gustav  Richter's 
superb  picture.  She  is  transfigured  by  her  self-forgetting  love,  and 
"  all  that  is  left  of  her/ '  in  the  best  and  truest  sense,  is  now  "  pure 
womanly." 

For  Abelard  at  St  Denis  the  case  was  different.     He  found 


ABELARD.  203 

the  monks  worldly  and  dissolute  and  he  reproved  them.  The 
effect  was  similar  to  the  case  of  Lot — the  reformer  departed  with 
all  his  belongings.  He  then  renewed  his  old  lectures.  His 
scholars  followed  him  to  Maisoncelle,  where,  in  their  avidity  of 
knowledge,  they  overcrowded  every  resource  of  shelter  and  food. 
He  offered  them  that  fascinating  combination,  dialectics  and 
divinity.  Like  the  saltpetre  and  the  charcoal  these  were  harmless 
when  apart  and  explosive  when  together,  particularly  if  you  add 
the  sulphurous  heart  which  now  smoked  in  his  bosom.  A  harsh 
and  vindictive  tone  was  given  to  his  disposition,  and  it  was  natural 
that  he  should  be,  at  least  tentatively,  a  heretic.  These  moral 
bruises  are  worse  than  any  or  all  physical  injuries  ;  the  man  who 
has  felt  them  can  never  be  again  what  he  was  before.  And  now 
Anselm  and  William  and  Fulbert  and  everybody  that  he  had 
bullied  or  taunted  or  threatened  turned  upon  him.  The  gates  to 
the  black  cavern  of  the  winds  were  open  and  the  blasts  of  fate  were 
icy  cold. 

The  papal  legate  Conan  held  a  council  at  Soissons  in  1121. 
The  opinions  of  Abelard  were  received  with  disfavor.  They 
humiliated  the  poor  wretch  among  them  and  made  him  burn  his 
own  book,  and  then  mumble  through  a  credo  amid  his  "  sobs  and 
sighs  and  tears  ' '  These  words  are  his  own,  and  his  is  also  the 
statement  that  he  was  put  into  the  custody  of  the  Abbot  of  St. 
Medard  and  there  he  was  lectured,  and  even  lashed  by  the  con 
vent  whip,  until  he  exhibited  proper  submission.  Poetical  justice 
had  befallen  him.  For  he  confesses,  to  his  shame,  that  he  had 
coerced  and  even  struck  Heloise.  Now  he,  too,  was  coerced,  and 
he,  too,  was  struck. 

Then  back  again  to  St.  Denis,  with  more  hatred  and  hard 
speeches  than  ever.  But  Suger,  the  new  abbot,  an  easy-going 
lover  of  bric-a-brac  and  good  living,  set  him  free,  a  "  masterless 
man"  past  forty  years  of  age,  with  Heloise  out  of  reach  and  the 
spears  of  exultant  enemies  bristling  in  every  hedge.  Is  it  a  wonder 
that  he  took  to  the  banks  of  the  Ardusson  near  Troyes,  wattled 
himself  a  rude  hut  and  resolved  to  be  a  hermit  ?  But  even  there 
in  the  desert  the  people  thronged  him  and  built  a  village  of  huts 
about  his  own.  His  misfortunes  became  a  portion  of  his  strength. 
And  there  they  erected  for  him  a  church  and  a  cloister  which  he 
dedicated  to  the  Paraclete,  a  daring  innovation,  since  it  was  then 


204  LATIN  HYMNS. 

considered  highly  heterodox  thus  to  distinguish  one  person  of  the 
Trinity  from  the  other  two. 

Under  such  storms  and  heat  the  nature  of  the  man  had  been 
seriously  warped.  He  became  suspicious,  gloomy,  and  weakly 
unstable.  His  correspondence  with  Heloise  had  been  completely 
broken  off.  He  went  into  the  monotonous  Champagne,  then  out 
into  the  bleak  Brittany,  and  finally  (1125)  he  received  the  abbacy 
of  St.  Gildas.  His  friends,  perhaps,  desired  to  save  him  from 
homelessness  and  so  from  the  dangers  which  the  relentless  malice 
of  his  old  enemies  was  constantly  piling  up.  But  their  choice  of 
a  refuge  reveals  how  little  their  ecclesiastical  influence  was  worth. 
The  monks  of  St.  Gildas  lived  in  open  sin,  and  the  people  around 
the  cloister  were  semi-barbarians.  It  may  be  that  they  were  ready 
to  welcome  Abelard  because  they  supposed  he  would  be  charitable 
to  their  peccadilloes,  but  if  they  fancied  this,  their  mistake  was 
great  He  really  measured  himself  against  their  vices  and  suffered 
a  predestined  defeat.  At  St.  Gildas  he  touched  the  nadir  of  his 
fate  as  at  Paris  he  had  reached  its  zenith.  The  monks  conspired 
against  him.  They  sought  to  poison  him,  contaminating  with 
their  drugs  even  the  cup  of  the  Eucharist  When  his  life  was 
not  fear  it  was  horror,  and  when  it  was  not  horror  it  was  de 
spair. 

At  this  time,  too,  for  calamity  never  comes  singly,  Suger  had 
succeeded  in  routing  from  Argenteuil  the  Abbess  Heloise  with  all 
her  nuns.  He  had  complained  to  Rome  that  the  lands  of  Argen 
teuil  were  the  chartered  right  of  St.  Denis  and  that  the  nuns  were 
very  scandalous.  So  Abelard  roused  himself  sufficiently  to  hand 
the  deserted  abbey  of  the  Paraclete  over  to  his  wife  ;  to  confirm  it 
by  every  possible  act  and  deed  against  invasion  ;  and  to  secure,  in 
the  despite  of  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  who  was  his  presumptive 
enemy,  a  special  bull  of  Innocent  II.  to  make  all  this  per 
manent  To  these  walls  Heloise  therefore  removed.  They  were 
doubly  dear  to  her  for  Abelard 's  sake.  She  had  no  true  "  voca 
tion"  for  her  office,  but  the  Pope  called  her  and  her  sisterhood  his 
"  dear  daughters,"  and  it  was  the  best  that  they  could  do. 
Abelard  prepared  their  forms  of  service  for  them,  and  thus  again, 
after  all  these  years,  communication  existed  and  letters  passed  be 
tween  them. 

These  forms  brought  on  a  controversy  with   Bernard,  who  did 


ABELARD.  205 

not  like  them.  The  letters  also  are  still  extant,  often  translated, 
but  never  in  anything  except  the  original  Latin,  speaking  out  the 
real  nature  of  the  writers.  On  the  part  of  Heloise  they  reveal  the 
depth  of  an  unending  love.  On  the  part  of  Abelard  they  are  as 
cold  and  occasionally  as  cruel  as  anything  to  which  a  translator 
can  turn  his  pen.  After  a  careful  survey  of  their  contents  the 
conclusion  is  irresistible  that  Heloise  is  a  woman  whose  lofty  love 
carries  with  it  unhesitatingly  the  mind,  the  will,  the  senses — every 
thing.  Her  faults  are  the  faults  of  her  time  and  of  her  teaching, 
not  of  her  soul.  But,  by  the  survival  of  its  most  forcible  elements, 
Abelard' s  character  has  been  developed  into  a  selfish  coldness  both 
unnatural  and  ungrateful.  As  a  man,  at  this  stage  of  his  career, 
one  abhors  and  pities  him. 

Presently  upon  the  dead  colorlessness  of  this  "  burned- out  crater 
healed  with  snow,"  the  red  light  of  a  new  controversy  is  cast.  In 
this  final  struggle  the  redoubtable  force  of  the  splendid  debater 
flashed  up  once  more.  But  he  was  defeated  by  Bernard  at  Sens 
(1140),  and  whether  this  defeat  was  by  fair  logic  or  by  the  hostile 
spirit  of  the  age  it  does  not  matter.  Defeated  he  was,  and  he 
rushed  out  declaring  that  he  would  appeal  to  Rome.  Happily  his 
way  led  him  through  Cluny,  and  there  good,  large-hearted,  and 
large-bodied  Peter  the  Venerable  took  him  in.  For  the  first  time, 
perhaps,  in  all  his  life  he  came  into  close  relations  with  a  man 
genuinely  great.  And  Peter  of  Cluny  himself  wrote  to  the  Pope  ; 
detaining  Abelard  meanwhile  by  kind  assiduities,  in  that  genial 
cloister  whose  humanity  cherished  neither  bigotry  nor  license. 
Later  he  even  reconciled  the  two  disputants,  and  the  broken  and 
weary  debater  died  at  last  (April  2ist,  1142)  at  St.  Marcel, 
whither  he  had  been  sent  for  change  of  climate  by  the  care  of  his 
hospitable  friend. 

There  is  a  painting — a  true  artist's  conception,  but  a  mere  daub 
in  fact — which  hangs  in  a  New  York  village  and  which  represents 
a  dead  knight  stretched  upon  the  ground.  He  lies  upon  his  back 
on  the  sodden  earth  in  the  melting  snow.  The  sky  above  him  is 
of  a  dull  and  awful  gray,  and  the  carrion  birds  are  flying  in  a 
long,  hurrying  line  to  join  those  already  at  the  feast.  A  broken 
sword  is  strained  in  his  right  hand,  his  armor  is  hacked  and  darkly 
spotted  with  mire  and  blood,  and  his  feet  have  fallen  into  a  little 
stream.  So  would  have  fallen  Abelard  but  for  the  charity  and 


206  LATIN  HYMNS. 

mercy  of  Peter  the  Venerable.  Remembering  all  that  he  had 
been  it  is  somewhat  comforting  to  read  of  his  last  days.  For  cer 
tain  letters  passed  between  Peter  of  Cluny  and  Heloise,  and  these, 
too,  are  extant  and  accessible. 

The  abbot  says  to  her,  after  describing  the  daily  life  of  Abelard, 
"  How  holily,  how  devoutly,  in  what  a  catholic  spirit  he  made 
confession,  first  of  his  faith  and  then  of  his  sins  !  .  .  .  Thus 
Master  Peter  finished  his  days,  and^he  who  for  his  knowledge  was 
famed  throughout  the  world,  in  the  discipleship  of  Him  who  said, 
'  Learn  of  Me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,'  persevered, 
in  meekness  and  humility,  and,  as  we  may  believe,  passed  to  the 
Lord."  It  is  in  such  language  that  this  benevolent  man  addresses 
his  "  venerable  and  very  dear  sister,"  concerning,  as  he  tenderly 
puts  it,  her  "  first  husband  in  the  Lord."  And  doubtless  this 
same  Abelard  became,  at  the  last,  a  little  child,  who  through  much 
tribulation  had  unlearned  his  haughty  and  selfish  temper,  and  had 
gone  back  from  subtleties  and  logic  to  say  in  all  simplicity, 
Abba,  Father !  And  it  is  not  less  interesting  for  us  to  dis 
cover  in  the  second,  epistle  of  Heloise  to  Peter  of  Cluny,  that 
the  mother's  heart  yearns  over  her  boy,  and  that  she  commends 
Astrolabe  to  the  care  and  protection  of  his  father's  benefactor, 
a  trust  which,  in  his  next  letter,  Peter  accepts  and  promises  to 
discharge. 

Of  the  poetry  of  Abelard  much  has  unquestionably  been  lost. 
His  troubadour  ballads  may  have  been  conveniently  suppressed  ; 
it  is  often  the  fate  of  wise  men's  lighter  productions.  And  his 
hymns  were  for  long  years  untraced,  except  in  the  instance  of  the 
Mittit  ad  virginem  and  of  another  upon  the  Trinity,  which  was 
ascribed  to  him,  but  is  now  accredited  to  Hildebert.  A  very 
pretty  poem,  Ornarunt  ierram  germina,  preserved  by  Du  Meril 
(Poesies  Populaires  Lat.,  p.  444)  is  given  in  the  collection  of 
Archbishop  Trench  and  again  in  that  of  Professor  March.  Even 
in  English  its  grace  and  daintiness  do  not  entirely  escape  us,  and 
they  show  how  possible  it  was  for  him  to  have  written  the  love- 
songs  which  celebrated  Heloise. 

The  earth  is  green  with  grasses  ; 

The  sky  is  filled  with  lights  — 
Sun,  moon,  and  stars.     There  passes 

Vast  use  through  days  and  nights. 


ABELARD.  207 

On  either  hand  upbuilded, 

Arouse,  O  man,  and  see  ! 
Those  heavenly  realms  are  gilded 

By  help  which  shines  for  thee. 

The  suns  of  winter  cheer  thee 

For  lack  of  fire  below  ; 
While  the  bright  moon  draws  near  thee, 

With  stars,  thy  path  to  show  ! 

Leave  pride  her  ivory  spaces  ; 

The  poor  man  on  the  grass 
Looks  up,  from  fragrant  places 

By  which  the  song-birds  pass. 

The  rich,  with  wasteful  labor, 

(For  vaulted  domes  shall  fall,) 
Mocking  his  poorer  neighbor, 

Paints  heaven  within  his  hall. 

But  in  that  open  chamber 

Where  all  things  fairest  are, 
Let  the  poor  man  remember 

How  Gcd  paints  sun  and  star. 

So  vast  a  work  and  splendid 

Is  nature's  more  than  man's  ! 
No  pains  nor  cost  attended 

Those  age-enduring  plans  ! 

The  rich  man  keeps  his  servant, 

An  angel  guards  the  poor, 
And  God  sends  stars  observant 

To  watch  above  his  door  ! 

At  length  the  adage  of  Buddha  was  fulfilled  that  "  Hatred  does 
notecase  by  hatred  ;  hatred  ceaseth  by  love."  This  is  an  old 
rule.  For  in  1836  his  romantic  story  secured  an  editor  for  the 
scholar's  works  in  the  person  of  Monsieur  Victor  Cousin,  who  at 
that  date,  and  again  in  1849,  republished  them.  They  had  been 
issued  in  1616  by  Francis  d'Amboise  at  Paris,  and  the  city  of  his 
fame  and  sorrow  appropriately  witnessed  their  reappearance.  But 
even  then  there  were  no  more  verses,  and  the  editors  of  the  twelfth 
volume  of  the  Hisloire  Lilteraire  de  la  France  also  regarded  those 
productions  as  hopelessly  lost.  Yet  they  had  been  in  Paris,  and 


208  LATIN  HYMNS. 

when  the  Palrologia  of  Migne  reached  "Tom.  178"  they  had 
been  actually  recovered.  The  story  is  of  the  same  pattern  as  the 
author's  life — the  man  and  his  works  had  infinite  vicissitudes. 

When  Belgium  was  occupied  by  the  French,  these  ninety-three 
hymns,  written  for  the  abbey  of  the  Paraclete  between  1125  and 
1134,  were  lying  hid  in  codice  quincunciali,  whatever  this  may 
mean.  The  account  seems  to  require  a  box  of  about  five  inches 
in  height,  rather  than  an  ordinary  codex  or  bound  volume.  This 
codex  was  brought  to  Paris  and  there  remained  during  the  days  of 
Napoleon  Bonaparte.  When  his  Empire  fell,  the  box  and  its  con 
tents  returned  to  Belgium.  They  bore  the  seals  of  the  Republic 
and  of  the  Empire  and  they  also  had  the  stamp  of  the  Royal 
Library  of  Brussels.  They  were  indeed  a  catalogued  part  of  that 
library's  treasures,  but  their  value  was  unguessed.  One  day,  after 
their  return,  a  German  student  named  Oehler,  while  rummaging 
through  the  codex  found  in  it  the  libellus,  or  little  book,  which 
contained  these  three  series  of  hymns.  Like  the  "  hymnarium" 
of  Hilary  they  were  known  to  have  been  in  existence,  and  hence 
he  immediately  inferred  their  authorship.  They  embraced,  to  his 
delight,  a  complete  collection  for  all  the  religious  hours  and  for 
the  principal  festivals  of  the  Church. 

It  is  strikingly  characteristic  of  the  superficial  nature  of  many 
studies  in  Latin  hymnology,  that  Oehler  apparently  thought  of 
nothing  else  that  might  be  in  the  codex,  but  proceeded  at  once  to 
publish  eight  of  the  recovered  hymns.  These,  attracting  the 
notice  of  Monsieur  Cousin,  he  purchased  a  full  transcript  of  the 
libellus  at  a  "  fair  price"  from  the  discoverer.  It  was,  however, 
reserved  for  Emile  Cachet,  a  Belgian,  to  "  give  a  not  unlucky  day 
to  paleography' '  in  the  course  of  which  he  lighted  upon  this  same 
codex  and  found  it  still  to  contain  the  larger  part  of  an  epistle 
treating  of  Latin  hymnology,  addressed  to  Heloise,  and  announc 
ing  the  hymns  of  which  it  was  the  preface.  Thus  the  identification 
was  perfect,  and  the  introductions  and  the  hymns  are  again  joined 
with  the  other  works  of  their  authors.  In  1838  a  set  of  Plane/us 
— "  Lamentations" — had  been  found  in  the  Vatican  Library. 
They  are  moderate  in  merit,  and  these  new  pieces  were  therefore 
invaluable  in  determining  Abelard's  rank  as  a  poet  In  the  main, 
his  hymns  are  didactic  and  cold.  But  there  is  at  least  one  which 
has  held  its  place  anonymously  in  the  service  of  the  Church  and 


ABELARD.  209 

upon  this  his  reputation  may  safely  rest.  It  was  translated  by  Dr. 
Neale  from  the  imperfect  text  of  a  Toledo  breviary,  and  it  can  be 
found  in  Hymns,  Ancient  and  Modern  (No.  343),  and  in  Mone 
(Lai,  Hym.  des  Mittelalters,  L,  382).  In  the  Paraclete  Breviary 
it  is  "  xxviii.,  Ad  Vesperas." 

O  quanta,  qualia  sunt  ilia  sabbata, 
Quae  semper  celebrat  superna  curia  ! 
Quae  fessis  requies,  quae  merces  fortibus, 
Cum  erit  omnia  Deus  in  omnibus. 

Vere  Jherusalem  illic  est  civitas 
Cujus  pax  jugis  est  sumtna  jucunditas, 
Ubi  non  praevenit  rem  desiderium, 
Nee  desiderio  nimis  est  praemium. 

Quis  rex  !  quae  curia  !  quale  palatium  ! 

Quae  pax  !  quae  requies  !  quod  illud  gaudium  ! 

Hujus  participes  exponant  gloriae 

Si,  quantum -sentiunt,  possint  exprimere. 

Nostrum  est  interim  mentem  erigere, 
Et  totis  patriam  votis  appetere, 
Et  ad  Jherusalem  a  Babilonia, 
Post  longa  regredi  tandem  exilia. 

Illic,  molestiis  finitis  omnibus, 
Securi  cantica  Syon  cantabimus, 
Et  juges  gratias  de  donis  gratiae 
Beata  referet  plebs  tibi,  Domine. 

Illic  ex  sabbato  succedet  sabbatum, 
Perpes  laetitia  sabbatizantium, 
Nee  ineffabiles  cessabunt  jubili, 
Quos  decantabimus  et  nos  et  angeli. 

Oh  what  shall  be,  oh  when  shall  be,  that  holy  Sabbath  day, 
Which  heavenly  care  shall  ever  keep  and  celebrate  alway  ; 
When  rest  is  found  for  weary  limbs,  when  labor  hath  reward, 
When  everything,  forevermore,  is  joyful  in  the  Lord  ? 

The  true  Jerusalem  above,  the  holy  town,  is  there, 
Whose  duties  are  so  full  of  joy,  whose  joy  so  free  from  care  ; 
Where  disappointment  cometh  not  to  check  the  longing  heart, 
And  where  the  soul  in  ecstasy  hath  gained  her  better  part. 


210  LATIN  HYMNS. 

O  glorious  King,  O  happy  state,  O  palace  of  the  blest ! 

O  sacred  peace  and  holy  joy  and  perfect  heavenly  rest. 

To  thee  aspire  thy  citizens  in  glory's  bright  array, 

And  what  they  feel  and  what  they  know  they  strive  in  vain  to  say. 

For  while  we  wait  and  long  for  home,  it  shall  be  ours  to  raise 

Our  songs  and  chants,   and  vows  and  prayers,  in  that  dear  country's 

praise  ; 

And  from  these  Babylonian  streams  to  lift  our  weary  eyes, 
And  view  the  city  that  we  love  descending  from  the  skies. 

There,  there,  secure  from  every  ill,  in  .freedom  we  shall  sing 
The  songs  of  Zion,  hindered  here  by  days  of  suffering, 
And  unto  thee,  our  gracious  Lord,  our  praises  shall  confess 
That  all  our  sorrow  hath  been  good,  and  thou  by  pain  canst  bless. 

There  Sabbath  day  to  Sabbath  day  sheds  on  a  ceaseless  light, 
Eternal  pleasure  of  the  saints  who  keep  that  Sabbath  bright ; 
Nor  shall  the  chant  ineffable  decline,  nor  ever  cease, 
Which  we  with  all  the  angels  sing  in  that  sweet  realm  of  peace. 

The  rhythm  of  the  Trinity,  previously  mentioned,  is  so  good 
that  it  is  usually,  and,  it  may  be,  correctly,  ascribed  to  Hildebert 
of  Lavardin  ;  and  the  Plancius  Varii  have  really  something  more 
than  that  "  inconsiderable  merit"  which  Archbishop  Trench  allows 
to  them.  They  are  irregular  in  foim  and  metre,  and  their  sub 
jects  (which  evidently  reflect  their  author's  feelings)  are  :  The 
Wail  of  Dinah  ;  Jacob's  Lament  over  Joseph  and  Benjamin  ;  The 
Sorrow  of  the  Virgins  over  Jephthah's  Daughter  ;  The  Israelites' 
Dirge  over  Samson  ;  The  Grief  of  David  over  Abner  and  his 
Elegy  upon  Saul  and  Jonathan.  Abelard  also  composed  a  long 
poem  to  Astrolabe,  giving  him  plenty  of  good  counsel  in  fair 
pentameter,  but  in  rather  prosaic  phrases.  Some  of  it  sounds  like 
Lord  Chesterfield's  worldly  wisdom,  and  there  are  portions  of  the 
production  which  are  plainly  affected  by  the  soured  and  saddened 
spirit  of  the  author.  "  There  is  nothing,"  he  tells  the  poor, 
forsaken  lad,  "  better  than  a  good  woman,  and  nothing  worse 
than  a  bad  one,"  and,  "as  in  all  species  of  rapacious  birds,"  the 
female  is  the  most  to  be  dreaded  ! 

Thus  the  poems  which  we  possess  number  one  hundred  and  two 
all  told.  But  for  ordinary  readers  not  more  than  five — if  we  ex 
clude  the  present  correct  Latin  form  of  the  O  quanta  qnalia — are 


ABELARD.  211 

available  in  the  original,  and  these  are  scattered  through  three  or 
four  collections.  An  unkind  fate  has  still  pursued  these  poor 
relics  of  the  man  who  took  shelter  under  the  broad  wing  of  Peter 
the  Venerable,  and  who,  by  having  escaped  into  such  sanctuary, 
has  barred  out  from  thenceforth  all  uncharitable  thoughts.  It 
may  be  added  that  of  Heloise  also  we  have  a  reputed  hymn, 
Requiescat  a  labore,  but  Konigsfeld  and  Daniel  both  deny  the 
authorship.  In  this  they  are  doubtless  correct. 

We  may  best  remember  the  great  controversialist  when  he  is 
lying  dead  in  his  new-found  peace  and  childlikeness.  At  the  re 
quest  of  Heloise,  Peter  of  Cluny  delivered  up  his  body  to  be 
buried  within  the  walls  of  the  Paraclete,  in  defiance  of  any  miscon 
struction  or  of  any  sneer.  He  accompanied  the  act  with  the  abso 
lution  which  she  asked.  It  reads  thus  : 

"  I,  Peter,  Abbot  of  Cluny,  who  received  Peter  Abelard  as  a 
Cluniac  monk,  and  who  have  granted  his  body  to  be  delivered 
secretly  [furtim  delaium,  wrote  the  big-hearted  bishop]  to  Heloise, 
the  abbess,  and  lo  the  nuns  of  the  Paraclete,  by  the  authority  of 
the  Omnipotent  God  and  of  all  saints,  do  absolve  him  in  virtue  of 
my  office  from  all  his  sins."  This  was  to  have  been  engraved 
upon  a  metal  plate  and  fastened  above  the  tomb  of  the  dead  rhet 
orician,  but  for  some  reason — perhaps  connected  with  ihefurtim 
delatum — the  plan  was  never  carried  out.  But  the  absolution  was 
probably  attached  to  the  tomb  for  a  short  time  in  order  to  make  it 
effective. 

"  Women,"  says  Mrs.  Browning,  "  are  knights-errant  to  the 
last."  Fora  score  of  years,  Heloise  went  each  evening  to  that 
tomb  to  weep  and  pray.  She  remembered  and  observed  nothing 
of  those  unpleasant  traits  which  later  times  have  noticed.  If  she 
ever  cursed  any  one  it  must  have  been  Fulbert,  or  others  of  the 
dead  man's  enemies,  and 

"  A  curse  from  the  depths  of  womanhood 
Is  very  salt  and  bitter  and  good." 

At  length,  like  every  watching  and  every  waiting,  this,  too,  came 
to  an  end,  and  she  died  on  May  lyth,  1164,  precisely  at  his  age 
of  sixty-three  years.  And  they  laid  her  beside  him  in  the  same 
grave,  as  was  meet  and  right. 

But  evil  fate  still  flapped  a  raven  wing  above  the  pair.     Even  in 


212  LATIN  HYMNS. 

death  they  have  scarcely  rested  in  peace.  In  1497  the  tomb  was 
opened  from  religious  motives  and  the  bodies  were  removed  and 
placed  in  separate  vaults.  In  1630  the  Abbess  Marie  de  Roche 
foucauld  placed  them  in  the  chapel  of  the  Trinity.  In  1792  they 
were  again  removed  to  Nogent,  near  Paris.  In  1 800,  by  order  of 
Lucien  Bonaparte,  they  were  transferred  to  the  garden  of  the 
"  Musee  des  Monumens  Frangais."  This  being  destroyed  in 
1815,  they  were  again  entombed  in  Pere-la-Chaise.  M.  Lenoir, 
keeper  of  the  Museum,  had  constructed  the  present  Gothic  sepul 
chre  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  abbey  of  the  Paraclete,  uniting  with  these 
an  ancient  tomb  from  St.  Marcel  in  which  Abelard  had  at  first 
been  laid.  Pugin  says  that  this  was  transferred  from  the  Musee 
grounds.  The  monument  reared  at  the  Paraclete  and  ornamented 
with  a  figure  of  the  Trinity,  perished  in  1794  during  the  confusion 
of  the  Revolution.  General  Pajol,  the  subsequent  owner  of  the 
grounds,  placed  a  marble  pillar  above  the  stone  sarcophagus  which 
yet  existed,  but  the  lead  coffin  had  already  been  taken  to  Paris. 
The  tomb  in  Pere-la-Chaise  has  been  recently  repaired,  and  there 
the  sentimental  of  all  nations  have  brought  flowers  and  scrawled 
names  and  scribbled  verses.  Even  at  the  present  day  a  curious 
collection  of  wire  crosses,  immortelles,  and  visiting-cards  can  be 
seen  constantly  upon  it 

The  principal  inscription  was  composed  by  the  Academic  des 
Inscriptions  in  1766,  at  the  instance  of  Marie  de  Roucy  de 
Rochefoucauld,  Abbess  of  the  Paraclete,  like  her  namesake  of 
1497  ;  and  it  was  carved  at  her  cost  upon  the  stone. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  story  of  Abelard  and  Heloise  has  a  litera 
ture  of  its  own.  We  have  no  authentic  portraits,  if  we  except  the 
fine  pictures  of  Robert  Lefebvre  engraved  by  Desnoyers,  which 
rest  upon  I  know  not  what  of  possible  likeness.  But  the  English 
man,  Berington ;  the  Germans,  Brucker  and  Carriere  and  Fessler 
and  Schlosser  and  Feuerbach  ;  the  Frenchmen,  De  Remusat  and 
Cousin  and  Guizot  and  Delepierre  and  Lamartine  and  Dom  Ger- 
vaise  ;  the  Italian,  Tosti  ;  the  Americans,  W.  W.  Newton,  Wight, 
and  Abby  Sage  Richardson,  and  a  host  of  other  authors  and 
essayists  and  reviewers,  have  in  one  form  or  another  told  the 
sad,  sweet  legend  of  this  love.  It  has  never  lacked  its  audi 
ence,  and  its  perpetual  charm  has  been  the  character  of  Heloise. 
Like  the  fair  and  unfortunate  maid  of  Astolat,  who  so  pathet- 


ABELARD.  213 

ically  loved  Launcelot,  it  may  be  said  of  her  devotion  that 
she  "  gave  such  attendance  upon  him,  there  was  never  a  woman 
did  more  kindlyer  for  man  than  shee  did."  It  was  a  rare  ex 
hibition  of  that  precious  jewel,  an  unselfish,  loyal,  and  flawless 
heart ! 


CHAPTER  XX. 

PETER    THE    VENERABLE. 

IT  serves  to  illustrate  the  meshes  which  held  the  highest  men  of 
the  twelfth  century  together,  when  we  encounter  Peter  the  Vener 
able,  Abbot  of  Cluny.  His  true  name  was  Pierre  Maurice  de 
Montboisier  and  he  was  from  Auvergne — "  one  of  the  noblest  and 
most  genial  natures,"  says  Morison,  "to  be  met  with  in  this  or 
in  any  time."  What  a  fine  old  man  he  was  !  Under  him  as 
abbot,  Bernard  of  Cluny  was  prior,  and  the  loving  care  of  Peter 
prepared  an  epitaph  for  that  bravest  and  sweetest  of  singers.  It 
was  he  who  bearded  the  other  Bernard  in  his  very  den,  and  who 
came  out  of  many  contests  against  that  almost  invincible  ecclesiast 
with  more  honor  than  before.  Few  could  say  this  of  a  battle  with 
the  Abbot  of  Clairvaux  ;  and  to  no  one  but  Peter  does  Morison, 
the  biographer  of  Bernard,  concede  any  such  victory. 

It  was  also  this  admirable  Peter  who  took  Peter  Abelard  under 
his  protection.  With  a  large  and  patient  generosity  he  developed 
the  better  nature  of  that  headstrong,  conceited,  unhappy  man  ; 
and  when  Abelard  died  he  wrote  to  Heloise  the  really  warm 
hearted  and  tender  letter,  with  a  great  deal  of  humanity  about  it, 
which  I  have  quoted  already.  And  thus,  to  whomsoever  it  may 
fall  to  consider  the  history  of  France  in  the  twelfth  century  ;  or  of 
Abelard  and  the  new  philosophy  ;  or  of  Bernard  and  ecclesiastical 
polity  ;  or  of  the  other  Bernard  and  the  Latin  hymns,  it  is  inevi 
table  that  the  name  of  Peter  the  Venerable  shall  arise  and  stand 
high  above  the  throng  of  those  by  which  he  is  surrounded. 

His  mother's  name  was  Raingarde,  and  her  death,  long  after  he 
had  attained  his  wide  reputation,  was  deeply  felt  by  him  as  that  of 
one  of  the  best  of  women  and  dearest  of  mothers.  For  Pierre  de 
Montboisier,  in  those  days  when  the  stagnation  and  corruption  of 
thought  and  morals  were  not  felt  as  they  were  felt  later  on,  was  a 
man  as  well  as  a  monk.  But  when,  at  last,  the  religious  people 
became  monks  and  not  men  ;  when  they  were  stupid,  uninterest- 


PETER    THE   VENERABLE.  215 

ing,  fat-fleshed  and  gross  in  life  ;  when  they  had  no  courage  or 
piety  ;  then  they  neither  did  the  world  any  good  nor  made  their 
own  souls  ripe  for  heaven.  And  as  sportsmen  tell  us  that  the 
mellow  "  bob-o'-link"  ceases  to  sing  and  is  only  fit  for  slaughter 
when  he  becomes  the  "  rice  bird  "  of  the  South,  so  it  was  with 
them.  Latin  hymnology  almost  ceases  to  be  interesting  after  this 
century.  And  Peter  the  Venerable,  while  he  wrote  but  little  him 
self,  is  too  fine  a  factor  in  the  arousing  of  others  for  us  to  forget 
him  and  his  work. 

He  must  have  been  born  in  1092  or  1094— the  earlier  date  being 
more  probable  ;^and  when  he  was  sixteen  or  seventeen  (1109)  he 
became  a  monk  of  Cluny.  These  were  the  "  black"  monks  ; — 
as  the  Cistercians  of  Citeaux  and  Clairvaux  were  the  "  white." 
He  had  six  brothers,  most  of  whom  took  similar  vows.  What  else 
indeed  was  there  to  do  ?  You  must  either  hack  and  hew  your 
way  with  a  battle-axe,  and  risk  your  neck  and  your  castle,  or  you 
must  become  a  monk.  There  was  no  middle  course.  Peace- 
loving,  studious  people — those  who  aimed  to  help  the  world  up 
toward  God — had  no  other  choice.  Nowadays  we  should  find 
plenty  of  room  for  Peter  ;  but  he  did  what  was  then  best,  and 
entered  Cluny. 

At  thirty  years  of  age  he  was  its  abbot.  This  was  in  1122.  It 
happened  by  reason  of  Pontius,  the  former  abbot,  a  self-sufficient 
and  imperious  man,  being  forced  to  resign  his  office  and  go  on 
pilgrimage  to  Palestine  ;  he  even  promised  not  to  come  back  at 
all.  Then  the  monks  of  Cluny  elected  another  abbot ;  and  as 
he  died  almost  immediately,  they  were  compelled  to  choose  a 
third,  namely  Peter.  But  it  was  in  a  hard  seat  that  they  placed 
him  ;  he  had  a  mismanaged  property,  and  a  body  of  men  who 
needed  a  good  deal  of  attention. 

Let  us  picture  him  to  us  in  the  fashion  and  habit  of  his  appear 
ance.  He  had  a  "happy  face,"  a  "majestic  figure,"  and 
"  plenty  of  those  other  unfailing  signs  of  virtues"  which  justi 
fied  his  name  "  The  Venerable."  It  was  such  a  big-hearted,  big- 
bodied  style  of  man  who  now  undertook  this  reformation.  By 
the  help  of  Matthew,  Prior  of  St.  Martin  in-the  Fields,  near 
Paris,  he  effected  it  in  about  three  months.  Then  there  was  a 
period  of  peace.  But,  all  of  a  sudden,  here  comes  Pontius,  with 
soldiers  at  his  heels,  when  Peter  is  absent,  wanting  his  old  place 


2l6  LATIN  HYMNS. 

again.  He  bursts  in  the  gates,  forces  the  monks  who  remain  to 
swear  allegiance,  carries  off  crosses  and  candlesticks  and  whatever 
was  worth  anything  for  melting  down  into  money,  and  plays 
robber-baron  over  all  the  neighborhood.  Peter  himself  tells  the 
story  :  "  He  came  in  my  absence.  .  .  .  With  a  motley  crowd 
of  soldiers  and  women  rushing  in  together,  he  marched  into  the 
cloisters.  He  turned  his  hand  to  the  sacred  things.  .  .  .  He 
raided  the  villages  and  castles  around  the  abbey,  and,  trying  to 
subdue  the  religious  places  in  a  barbaric  way,  he  wasted  with  fire 
and  sword  all  that  he  could."  It  was  certainly  a  very  serious 
matter. 

.  Peter  did  the  best  he  could  with  it — this  resulting  in  Honorius 
II.  despatching  a  legate  fiom  Rome  with  a  great  curse,  ready- 
baked  and  smoking-hot,  for  the  soul's  benefit  of  that  "  sacrilegious, 
schismatic,  and  excommunicate  usurper,"  Pontius.  I  have  not 
read  the  curse  ;  but  I  am  positively  certain  that  Pontius  and  Pon 
tius  Pilate  must  have  been  elaborately  compared  in  its  sentences. 
Such  anathemas  were  supposed  to  dry  the  blood  and  wither  the 
brain.  Pontius  trembled  and  restored  his  ill  gotten  gains  and 
vanished  to  his  own  place.  And  Peter  had  peace  at  last. 

There  had  already  been  a  controversy  with  St.  Bernard  about 
Robert,  Bernard's  cousin,  who  liked  the  cordiality  of  Cluny  a 
good  deal  better  than  the  thin-visaged  arid  almost  fierce  zeal  of 
Clairvaux.  For  this  reason  he  changed  his  allegiance.  Conse 
quently  Bernard  wanted  him  sent  home.  And  by  this  time  he 
was,  according  to  strict  rule,  actually  restored.  However,  Clair 
vaux  chuckled  very  much  at  the  confusion  in  Cluny  ;  and  Ber 
nard  was  ungenerous  enough  to  take  this  time,  of  all  others,  tG 
publish  quite  an  elaborate  and  even  brilliant  disparagement  of  tha 
Cluniac  rule.  I  shall  let  this  also  pass  for  the  present,  for  it  will 
meet  us  again,  only  saying  that  Peter  seems  to  have  gone  on  wisely 
about  his  own  business  and  avoided  any  reply — a  quite  unusual 
proceeding  in  a  controversial  age.  In  1126  he  had  taken  up 
again  his  previous  line  of  administration  ;  and  when  this  ' '  apology' ' 
came  out  in  1127  he  was  practically  meeting  its  objections  in  the 
best  manner.  As  Frederick  Maurice  says  of  him,  "  The  Abbot 
of  Cluny  would  have  wished  the  monk  to  be  rather  an  example 
to  men  of  the  world  of  what  they  might  become,  than  the  type  of 
a  kind  of  life  which  was  in  opposition  to  theirs.  He  feared  that  a 


PETER    THE   VENERABLE.  217 

grievously  stringent  rule  would  lead  ultimately  to  a  terrible  lax- 
ity." 

In  1130  Pope  Honorius  died.  Pierre  de  Leon  (Peter  Leonis), 
calling  himself  Anacletus,  got  himself  illegally  elected,  and  seized 
the  control  at  Rome.  Cardinal  Gregory  of  San  Angelo,  who  was 
the  rightful  but  weaker  claimant,  assumed  the  title  of  Innocent 
II.,  and  forthwith  set  out  to  secure  the  help  of  the  great  abbeys  of 
France.  Now  Anacletus  had  been  a  Cluniac  ;  and  Bernard, 
Peter's  and  Cluny's  opponent,  favored  Innocent.  But  when 
Innocent,  in  1132,  appeared  at  Cluny,  he  was  hailed  as  the  true 
and  genuine  Pope — a  piece  of  magnanimity  which  he  had  no  right 
to  expect. 

And  from  this  time  Peter's  allegiance  was  undoubted  ;  although, 
like  a  great  many  persons  in  the  world,  Innocent  II.  conceded 
more  to  the  stern  will  of  Bernard  than  to  the  generous  conduct  of 
the  Abbot  of  Cluny.  Indeed,  he  did  but  very  little  in  the  way 
of  privilege  for  Peter's  abbey  ;  and  he  turned  nearly  all  his  gifts 
and  favors  toward  Bernard.  This  so  exalted  the  Cistercians  that 
Peter  protested.  It  is  a  blot  upon  Innocent  that  such  a  protest 
was  needed.  For  Peter  had  been  the  first  to  welcome  him,  send 
ing  him  "  sixty  horses  and  mules,  with  everything  which  could  be 
wanted  by  a  pope  in  distress. " 

Many  a  man  would  have  wheeled  around  and  left  the  ingrate. 
But  Peter's  revenge  was  handsome  and  characteristic.  He  sum 
moned  a  general  chapter  of  his  order  ;  and  it  was  held  at  the  time 
that  Innocent,  recognized  at  length,  was  going  away  to  Rome. 
There  were  "  two  hundred  priors  and  a  thousand  ecclesiasts," 
delegates  from  France,  England,  Spain,  Germany,  and  Italy. 
These  cheerfully  and  promptly  agreed  to  accept  a  more  stringent 
rule  in  all  their  religious  houses.  And  thus  Innocent,  and  his 
Warwick  of  a  Bernard,  could  see  for  themselves  the  strength  and 
the  charity,  and  the  sincere  purpose  of  the  man  whom  they  were 
setting  aside.  I  feel  that  I  must  here  add  the  exact  words  in 
which  Moiison,  St.  Bernard's  best  biographer,  justifies  this  esti 
mate  of  the  character  of  Peter  the  Venerable.  "The  relations 
between  Peter  and  Bernard  throughout  their  lives,"  he  says 
(p.  222,  note),  "  give  rise  to  contrasts  little  favorable  to  the  latter. 
Peter  nearly  always  is  gentle,  conciliating,  and  careful  not  to  give 
offence,  even  when  as  here  (in  the  case  of  the  Bishop  of  Langies) 


2l8  LATIN  HYMNS. 

sorely  provoked.  Bernard  too  often  made  return  by  hard  and 
even  violent  language  and  conduct" 

With  such  a  stately  and  well-balanced  person  in  our  mind's  eye, 
we  cannot  be  surprised  to  find  that  he  had  plenty  of  solid  pluck, 
that  he  was  "  mild  as  he  was  game,  and  game  as  he  was  mild." 
In  1134,  returning  from  the  Council  of  Pisa  against  Anacletus,  he 
and  his  followers  were  attacked  by  robbers.  The  abbot  tucked 
up  his  sleeves,  and  took  the  sword  of  the  Church  militant  on  the 
spot  Perhaps  he  was  glad  to  let  his  big  thews  and  sinews  have 
full  play.  At  all  events  he  so  dashed  and  smote  these  ungodly 
men,  that  he  beat  them  actually  back,  and  had  therefrom  consider 
able  glory.  I  never  read  that  he  or  his  abbey  was  much  meddled 
with  afterward. 

About  this  date  his  visits  to  Spain  drew  his  attention  to  the 
Koran.  He  was  struck  by  the  religious  efficiency  of  it,  and  in 
order  to  meet  it  better  he  prepared  for  a  full  translation  of  it 
Peter  of  Toledo,  Hermann  of  Dalmalia,  and  an  Englishman  named 
Robert  Kennet,  or  perhaps  (says  the  Hisloire  Litteratrc]  de  Retines, 
were  selected  for  this  duty.  To  them  were  added  an  Arab  scholar 
and  Peter  of  Poitiers,  the  abbot's  favorite  private  secretary.  They 
were  to  render  the  Koran  into  Latin  directly  ;  and  at  it  they  went, 
accomplishing  their  task  between  1141  and  1144,  at  the  time  of 
an  epidemic  in  the  monastery.  Then  Peter  himself  joined  with 
them  in  a  refutation  of  its  errors — albeit  his  Latinity  was  not  first- 
rate,  being  rather  that  of  a  man  of  affairs  than  of  a  student.  There 
was  another  Latin  refutation  of  the  Koran  by  Brother  Richard,  a 
Dominican  who  lived  in  the  thirteenth  and  into  the  fourteenth 
century.  Luther  translated  that  into  German  in  1542. 

What  a  warm  blooded,  good,  hearty  fellow  Peter  must  have 
been  !  He  had  only  found  three  hundred  monks  at  Cluny  in 
1 122  ;  but  Hugo  of  Cluny,  his  successor,  was  entitled  to  take 
rule,  there  and  elsewhere,  over  ten  thousand.  Mount  Tabor,  the 
Valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  and  Constantinople  were  among  the  places 
where  the  "  black"  monks  were  well  established.  And  a  large 
share  of  this  was  due  to  the  sagacity  and  statesmanship  of  Peter. 
In  proof  of  this  fine  humanity,  take  his  behavior  to  Abelard.  The 
full  story  comes  properly  in  another  place  ;  for  Abelard  himself 
was  a  writer  of  hymns,  and  worthy  of  more  than  transient  refer 
ence.  But  when  poor  Abelard  was  repudiated,  disgraced,  shame- 


PETER    THE   VENERABLE.  219 

fully  mutilated,  and  nearly  at  despair's  edge,  wearied  out  with  St. 
Gildas  and  his  refractory  monks,  and  finally  defeated  by  the  purer 
and  higher  logic  of  Bernard,  then,  indeed,  do  we  see  Peter  of 
Cluny  at  his  best.  He  received  the  disappointed  and  broken 
man  with  "  the  welcome  of  an  unutterably  guileless  and  sympa 
thetic  heart"  Cluny 's  gates  opened  wide  to  take  him  in. 
Cluny' s  genial,  restful  spirit  closed  in  about  his  own  like  the 
feathers  of  the  mother  bird  around  her  callow,  shivering  brood. 

•And  when  he  dies,  it  is  Cluny 's  abbot  who  details  with  the 
loving  particularity,  which  would  most  help  the  sore  heart  of 
Heloise,  all  his  last  doings.  He  speaks  even  to  the  kinship  of 
every  age  when,  after  this  long  and  tender  letter,  whose  Latin 
glows  with  a  deep  fervency,  he  closes  in  this  wise  :  "  May  God, 
in  your  stead,  comfort  him  in  his  bosom  ;  comfort  him  as  another 
you  ;  and  guard  him  till  through  grace  he  is  restored  to  you  at  the 
coming  of  the  Lord,  with  the  shout  of  the  archangel  and  the 
trump  of  God  descending  from  the  heavens. " 

It  is  time  that  we  speak  of  his  writings,  of  which  a  full  edition 
was  published  at  Paris  in  1522,  one  of  the  Cluniac  monks  being 
its  compiler.  Frequently,  during  the  next  two  hundred  years, 
they  are  republished  in  whole  or  in  part.  They  are  thus  by  no 
means  inaccessible,  though  their  merit  is  not  so  great.  One  of 
the  important  works  is  directed  against  the  Jews,  for  whom  he  had 
a  most  pious  dislike.  Others  are  in  the  nature  of  epistles  or 
of  controversial  replies,  valuable  only  for  their  time  and  their 
spirit.  . 

Of  his  verse,  however,  we  have  left  us  but  about  fourteen  speci 
mens.  One  of  these  is  against  the  detractors  of  the  poetry  of 
Peter  of  Poitiers,  who  were  nearer  right  than  he  supposed  them 
to  be.  Another  is  a  rhymed  epistle  to  a  certain  Raimond,  of 
some  sixty-four  lines.  Then  we  have  a  "  prose,"  the  word  being 
cognate  to  prosody,  in  honor  of  Jesus  Christ.  Its  structure,  except 
for  the  additional  short  syllable,  is  identical  with  the  "  leonine 
and  tailed  rhyme"  of  Bernard  of  Morlaix,  his  prior  : 

"  A  patre  inittitur,  in  terris  nascitur,  Deus  de  virgine 
Humana  patitur,  docet  et  moritur,  libens  pro  homine." 

It  celebrates  Him,  sent  from  the  Father,  born  on  the  earth, 
God  from  a  virgin,  wearing  our  mortal  shape,  teaching  and  tarry- 


220  LATIN  HYMNS. 

ing  with  us,  and  atoning  for  our  sins.  The  best,  perhaps,  of  all 
his  poems  is  what  Trench  and  March  quote  : 

"  Mortis  portis  fractis,  fortis 
Fortior  vim  sustulit," — 

the  real  original  of  those  splendid  lines  : 

"  Now  broken  are  the  bars  of  Death, 
And  crushed  thy  sting,  Despair  !" — 

which  we  find  in  Bishop  Heber's  resurrection  hymn,  commencing, 
"  God  is  gone  up  with  a  merry  noise."  There  is  a  life  to  these 
verses  which  one  must  understand  their  author  in  order  to  appre 
ciate.  They  follow,  in  the  best  attire  that  I  can  give  them.  They 
are  exultant  rather  than  illustrious.  It  is  the  man  and  not  his 
measures  whom  we  celebrate  !  Daniel  does  not  think  it  worth  his 
while  to  include  him  at  all.  Archbishop  Trench  takes  his  own 
text  from  the  Biblioiheca  Cluniacense,  Paris,  1614  : 

ON   THE   RESURRECTION    OF   OUR   LORD. 

The  gates  of  death  are  broken  through, 

The  strength  of  hell  is  tamed, 
And  by  the  holy  cross  anew 

Its  cruel  king  is  shamed. 
A  clearer  light  has  spread  its  ray 

Across  the  land  of  gloom 
When  he  who  made  the  primal  day 

Restores  it  from  the  tomb. 
For  so  the  true  Creator  died 

That  sinners  might  not  die. 
And  so  he  has  been  crucified 

That  we  might  rise  on  high. 

For  Satan  then  was  beaten  back 

Where  he,  our  Victor  stood  ; 
And  that  to  him  was  deathly  black 

Which  was  our  vital  good. 
For  Satan,  capturing,  is  caught, 

And  as  he  strikes  he  dies. 
Thus  calmly  and  with  mighty  thought 

The  King  defeats  his  lies, 
Arising  whence  he  had  been  brought. 

At  once,  to  seek  the  skies. 


PETER    THE   VENERABLE.  221 

Thus  God  ascended,  and  returned 

Again  to  visit  man  ; 
For  having  made  him  first,  he  yearned 

To  carry  out  his  plan. 
To  that  lost  realm  our  Saviour  flew, 

The  earliest  pioneer, 
To  people  Paradise  anew 

And  give  our  souls  good  cheer. 

Peter  the  Venerable  died  on  December  25th,  1156  ;  but  how 
or  with  what  surroundings  we  are  not  told.  He  was  buried  beside 
his  old  comrade.  Henry  of  Blois,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  within  the 
walls  of  the  church  which  Innocent  II.  consecrated  upon  his 
memorable  visit  to  Cluny.  And  the  Histoire  Litleraire  breaks 
out  into  an  unusual  eulogy  ;  and  declares  that  in  his  case  the  title 
of  "Venerable"  was  no  less  honorable  than  that  of  "  Saint. " 
They  did  not  make  "  saints"  out  of  such  men  as  Peter — and  I 
don't  quite  see  why  they  should.  There  was  too  much  flesh-and- 
blood  reality  about  him,  too  little  of  musty  theology  and  altogether 
too  little  bigotry.  But  somehow  the  broad-faced  happy  sun 
proves  himself  to  be  the  "  greater  light  ;"  while  the  moon  goes 
palely  on,  a  ghost  in  an  unaccustomed  sky. 


CHAPTER   XXL 

BERNARD    OF    CLUNY. 

IN  the  twelfth  century — the  time  of  the  great  Crusades — we  find 
the  noblest  and  purest  of  Latin  hymns.  It  is  the  age  of  Hildc- 
bert,  Abelard,  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  Peter  of  Cluny,  and  Adam 
of  St  Victor.  But  among  them  all  I  find  no  one  who  has  inspired 
a  deeper  and  more  lovely  desire  for  the  heavenly  land  than  Bernard 
of  Cluny. 

The  information  about  him  is  very  meagre.  He  was  born  at 
Morlaix  in  Brittany,  of  English  parents.  He  seems  to  have 
attained  to  no  ecclesiastical  dignity — such  men  seldom  care  for 
baubles  and  trinkets.  But  his  is  as  true  a  soul  as  ever  burned 
like  a  star  on  a  summer  night,  against  the  warm,  obscure,  palpitat 
ing  heaven  of  eternal  hope.  The  date  of  his  prominence  is  fixed 
by  the  fact  that  Peter  the  'Venerable  was  his  abbot,  and  it  is  there 
fore  included  between  1 1 22  and  1156.  I  have  (in  7 'he  Heavenly 
Land}  myself  assigned  the  Laus  Patriot  Ccelestis — his  famous  and 
only  poem,  which  is  addressed  to  Abbot  Peter,  to  1145  or  there 
abouts. 

His  single  up-gush  of  melody  is 'a  lamentation  over  the  evil 
condition  of  the  times  in  which  he  lives.  They  were  indeed  days 
to  sadden  the  soul  of  the  saint ;  and  he  called  his  poem  De  Con- 
temptu  Mundi ;  for  he  despised  the  immundus  mundus — the  foul 
world — in  which  he  was  forced  to  remain.  It  consists  of  some 
three  thousand  lines  of  dactylic  hexameter,  and  was  first  published 
(so  says  Trench,  who  is  its  step-parent)  by  Matthias  Flacius 
Illyricusin  his  scarce  and  little  known  supplement  to  the  Catalogue 
Teslium  Verilatis.  In  this  "  Catalogue  of  Witnesses  to  the  Truth" 
he  gathers  all  those  who  have  testified  against  the  papacy,  and 
the  supplement,  Varia  doctorum  piorumque  Virorum  de  Corrupto 
Ecclesm  Statu  Poemala  (1556),  is  made  up  of  hymns  and  poems 
in  which  the  pious  within  the  Church,  as  well  as  without  her  walls, 
sorrowed  over  her  corruption. 


BERNARD   OF  CLUN*.  223 

Bernard's  poem  is  sometimes  known,  therefore,  by  his  own  title, 
De  Contemptu  Mundi,  and  sometimes  by  that  given  by  Trench  to 
his  cento  of  about  one  hundred  lines,  Laus  Patrice  Ccelestis,  the 
"  Praise  of  the  Heavenly  Land."  From  this  cento  one  would 
derive  altogether  an  erroneous  idea  of  the  whole  ;  but  Dr.  Neale, 
who  wrote  with  the  full  text  before  him,  although  he  paraphrased 
but  part  of  it,  tells  us  that  the  poem,  in  great  part,  is  a  bitter 
satire  on  the  fearful  wickedness  of  the  times.  It  was  the  part 
Trench  passed  by  for  which  Matthias  Flacius  Illyricus,  its  first  editor, 
cared  the  most.  The  sins  and  greediness  of  the  Court  of  Rome 
are  the  theme  of  the  eighty-five  lines  he  has  embodied  in  the  text 
of  the  Catalogus  itself.  By  both  that  and  the  poems  of  his  supple 
ment,  he  sought  to  justify  the  Protestant  Reformation  on  the  side 
of  Christian  discipline  and  morals.* 


*  His  Varia  de  Corrupto  Slalu  Ecclesia  Pocmata  was  reprinted  in  1754, 
but  even  this  is  very  scarce.  There  was  an  earlier  publication  of  his  of 
the  same  nature,  Carmina  Vetusta  (1548),  but  whether  it  contained  Ber 
nard,  I  cannot  say.  Flacius  was  an  unwearied  searcher  of  the  libraries 
of  Europe  for  material  to  use  on  the  Lutheran  side  of  the  great  con 
troversy. 

The  poem  was  then  reprinted  at  least  six  times  :  "  by  David  Chytraeus 
at  Bremen,  1597  ;  at  Rostock,  1610  ;  at  Leipzig,  1626  ;  by  Eilhard  Lubinus, 
at  Lunenburg,  1640  ;  in  Wachler's  New  Theological  Annals,  December. 
1820  ;  and  i«  G.  Ch.  F.  Mohnike's  Studien  (Stralsund,  1824)  I.,  18." 
Yet  it  had  become  so  scarce  that  when  I  made  my  version  of  Dr.  Trench's 
cento,  I  could  not  find  a  complete  copy  in  America.  Since  then  I  have 
received  a  copy  of  the  edition  of  1640  from  a  friend.  Also  the  Boston 
Public  Library  has  secured  a  copy  of  the  Varia  Poemata,  which  was  once 
Theodore  Parker's,  and  bears  the  inscription,  "  A  rare  and  curious  book. 
T.  P." 

The  English  translations  are  :  (i)  Dr.  Trench  has  rendered  a  few  lines 
in  the  metre  of  the  original.  (2)  Dr.  John  M.  Neale's  "  Rhythm  of  Ber 
nard  of  Morlaix"  (1858).  (3)  Judge  Noyes  in  the  "  Seven  Great  Hymns 
of  the  Latin  Church."  (4) Dr.  Abraham  Coles.  (5)  "  The  Heavenly  Land, 
from  the  De  Contemptu  Mundi  of  Bernard  of  Morlaix,  rendered  into  corre 
sponding  English  Verse,"  by  S.  W.  Duffield  (1867).  (6)  A  privately 
printed  translation  by  "  O.  A.  M.,"  of  Cherry  Valley,  N.  Y.  (Albany, 
1867).  (7)  Gerard  Moultrie  in  Lyra  Mystica  (1869).  (8)  Rev.  Jackson 
Mason  (London,  1880).  Besides  this,  an  English  clergyman  has  per 
petrated  the  folly  of  rendering  Dr.  Neale's  paraphrase  into  Horatian 
Latin  verse,  which  would  puzzle  Bernard  himself  to  recognize  as  derived 
from  him. 


224  LATIN  HYMNS. 

The  translators  have  had  a  hard  problem  in  Bernard's  poem, 
and  but  few  have  attempted  to  "  bend  the  bow  of  Ulysses."  Dr. 
Neale  has  achieved  the  most  popular  and  useful  result,  in  the  ver 
sion  from  which  "  Jerusalem  the  Golden"  has  been  extracted,  but 
he  does  not  pretend  to  literalness.  "  My  own  translation,"  he 
says,  "is  so  free  as  to  be  little  more  than  an  imitation."  Dr. 
Coles  has  gone  straight  away  from  the  dactyls  and  made  a  version 
in  anapests — a  metre  which  does  not  do  justice  to  Bernard.  Arch 
bishop  Trench  has  rendered  a  few  lines  in  the  same  measure  as 
the  original.  I  have  myself  followed  (in  1867)  the  exact  metre 
and  rhyms  of  the  original  poem  ;  but  such  a  version  is  rather 
curious  than  useful.  The  translation  signed  by  "  O.  A.  M., 
Cherry  Valley, "  is  in  its  typography,  while  fine  and  clear,  affectedly 
antique.  The  metrical  power  of  this  version  is  inferior.  It  is 
dactylic  but  not  fluent,  and  does  not  at  all  represent  the  original. 
That  by  Mr.  Gerard  Moultrie  is  praised  by  Dr.  Trench  as  metri 
cally  close  and  poetically  beautiful.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying 
it  is  the  best  version  which  has  appeared  in  English.  It  seems  to 
keep  both  to  the  spirit  and  the  letter  of  the  original,  and  is  in  all 
respects  a  remarkable  achievement.  It,  however,  omits  the  double 
rhyme,  and  thus  avoids  the  chief  difficulty  of  a  reproduction  of  the 
form  of  the  original.  That  by  Rev.  Jackson  Mason  (1880)  will 
not  stand  a  comparison  with  Mr.  Moultrie's,  as  it  halts  and  breaks 
in  its  measure  and  produces  an  effect  on  the  ear  far  from -pleasant. 

The  difficulty  of  translation  is  due  entirely  to  the  character  of 
the  verse.  Bernard  himself  declares  "  unless  that  spirit  of  wisdom 
and  understanding  had  been  with  me,  and  flowed  in  upon  so  diffi 
cult  a  metre,  I  could  not  have  composed  so  long  a  work."  Not 
that  this  form  of  verse  was  original  with  him.  Peter  Damiani  has 
used  it  in  one  of  his  hymns  to  our  Lord's  mother  : 

"  O  miseratrix,  O  dominatrix,  praecipe  dictu 
Ne  devastemur,  ne  lapidemur,  grandinis  ictu." 

And,  to  go  farther  back  still,  a  certain  Theodulus,  who  lived  in 
the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Zeno  (474-91)  wrote  a  poem  of  nine 
hundred  lines  on  Bernard' sown  theme,  De  Contemptu  Mundi,  in 
the  same  metre  : 

"  Pauper  amabalis  et  venerabilis  est  benedictus 
Dives  inutilis  insatiabilis,  est  maledictus. 


BERNARD   OF  CLUNY.  225 

Qui  bona  negligit  et  mala  diligit  intrat  abyssum  ; 
Nulla  pecunia,  nulla  potentia  liberal  ipsum." 

A  glance  will  show  the  nature  of  this  trouble  which  the  patient 
Bernard  encountered.  Take  the  two  lines  : 

"  Hora  novhsima,  tempora//fjj'»»a  sunt,  vigitemus  ! 
Ecce  minaciter,  imminet  arbiter,  ille  suprtfmus." 

That  is  : 

"  These  are  the  Idtter  times, 
These  are  not  tetter  times, 

Let  us  stand  waiting  I 
Lo,  how  with  dwfulness, 
He,  first  in  lawfulness, 
Comes,  arbitrating  /' ' 

Of  course  it  is  infinitely  harder  to  the  translator  who  is  restricted, 
than  to  the  composer  who  can  eddy  around  his  subject — led  by 
the  rhyme — as  much  and  as  freely  as  he  will.  And  this  is  what 
Bernard  always  does.  His  verses  are  ejaculations,  desires,  lamen 
tations,  longings — measured  out  by  the  "  leonine  hexameter" 
which  he  employs.  To  show  the  beauty  still  untranslated,  as  well 
as  to  exhibit  more  of  the  structure  of  the  poem,  I  append  four  of 
these  lines  : 

"  Pax  ibi  florida,  pascua  vivida,  viva  medulla, 
Nulla  molestia,  nulla  tragoedia,  lacryma  nulla. 
O  sacra  potio,  sacra  refectio,  pax  animarum 
O  pius,  O  bonus,  O  placidus  sonus,  hymnus  earum." 

Thus  Englished,  closely  : 

"  Peace  is  there  flourishing, 
Pasture-land  nourishing, 

Fruitful  forever. 
There  is  no  aching  breast, 
There  is  no  breaking  rest, 

Tears  are  seen  never. 
O  sacred  draught  of  bliss  ! 
Peace,  like  a  waft  of  bliss  ! 

Sustenance  holy  ! 
O  dear  and  best  of  sounds, 
Heard  in  the  rest  of  sounds, 

Hymned  by  the  lowly  !" 


226  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Or  thus,  less  closely  and  more  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  poem  : 

"  Peace  doth  abide  in  thee  ; 
None  hath  denied  to  thee 

Fruitage  undying. 
Thou  hast  no  weariness  ; 
Naught  of  uncbeeriness 

Moves  thee  to  sighing. 
Draught  of  the  stream  of  life, 
Joy  of  the  dream  of  life, 

Peace  of  the  spirit ! 
Sacred  and  holy  hymns, 
Placid  and  lowly  hymns, 

Thou  dost  inherit  !" 

So  strange  and  subtle  is  the  charm  of  this  marvellous  poem, 
with  its  abrupt  and  startling  rhythm,  that  it  affects  me  even  yet, 
though  I  have  but  swept  my  fingers  lightly  over  a  single  chord. 
I  seem  to  myself  to  have  again  taken  into  my  hand  the  old  familiar 
harp,  whose  strings  I  have  often  struck  in  times  of  darkness  or  of 
depression  of  soul,  and  to  be  tuning  it  once  more  to  the  heavenly 
harmony  which  the  old  monk  tried  to  catch.  Perhaps  some  day, 
when  the  clouds  are  removed,  I  shall  see  him,  and  understand 
even  better  than  now  the  glory  that  lit  his  lonely  cell,  and  made 
him  feel  that 

"  Earth  looks  so  little  and  so  low 
When  faith  shines  full  and  bright." 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

ADAM    OF    ST.    VICTOR. 

THE  school  of  St.  Victor,  in  Paris,  was  founded  by  William  of 
Champeaux,  the  teacher  and  rival  of  Abelard,  at  the  commence 
ment  of  the  twelfth  century.  It  is  known  to  history  as  having 
been  the  abode  of  three  distinguished  scholars,  Hugo,  Richard, 
and  Adam.  Hugo  and  Richard  of  St.  Victor  were  mystics,  and 
Vaughan,  in  Hours  with  the  Mystics,  has  set  them  before  us. 
From  this  and  other  sources,  we  grow  more  and  more  amazed  lo 
find  the  immense  influence  of  such  a  school.  A  century  from  its 
foundation  showed  St.  Victor  to  be  the  parent  of  thirty  abbeys  and 
of  more  than  eighty  priories.  Here  in  these  cells,  like  bees  in  a 
hive,  the  busy  monks  were  laying  up  the  only  honey  of  the  Dark 
Ages — multiplying  manuscripts,  delving  into  remote  philosophies, 
muddling  their  brains  over  abstruse  questions,  but  now  and  then 
leaving  behind  them  something  to  benefit  mankind.  Theology 
and  dialectics  were  their  great  and  indeed  their  only  pursuits. 
Like  the  swirls  of  a  sluggish  stream  beneath  its  banks,  they  occa 
sionally  caught  and  kept  fresh  some  broken  flower  from  the  shore. 
Thus,  one  may,  for  example's  sake,  put  a  certain  pretty  idea  of 
Hugo  of  St.  Victor  into  modern  verse  : 

"  Hugo,  St.  Victor's  prior — a  man 

Gentle  and  sweet,  contemplative  and  wise, 

Makes  mention  in  his  fine  and  mystic  plan 
Of  three  great  steps  by  which  our  spirits  rise  : 
First,  Cogitation — when  we  turned  our  eyes  ; 

Then.  Meditation — when  our  minds  began 

With  hovering  wing  the  kindled  thought  to  scan  ; 
Last,  Contemplation — which  all  doubt  defies. 

Yea,  and  he  saith  that,  in  the  greenest  wood 
Of  stubborn  souls,  this  glory  kindleth  so 
That  the  pure  flame  against  the  sap  will  glow 

And  be  by  nothing  finally  withstood — 
The  smoke  itself  be  parted  to  and  fro, 

Until  clear  light  shall  shine  in  constant  good." 


228  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Richard  was  the  disciple  and  successor  of  this  gentle-spirited 
Hugo.  In  1114  the  priory  became  an  abbacy,  and  when  Richard 
was  prior  in  1162,  he  had  for  abbot  no  very  godly  person,  since 
under  Ervisius  all  discipline  was  relaxed,  and  scandal  and  sen 
suality  began  to  rule.  But  Richard  stood  out  stoutly  and  with 
good  judgment ;  and  he  lived  to  see  the  old  harmony  and  glory 
return  again.  In  his  day  and  in  that  of  Adam,  which  was  con- 
temp'oraneous  with  his,  the  school  represented  the  dialectical  and 
theologic,  rather  than  the  spiritual  and  mystical  side  of  religion  ; 
and  yet  it  did  good  work,  as  a  peacemaker,  for  the  truth.  It  gives 
us  little  enough,  however,  with  which  to  fall  in  love.  Massive  it 
may  be,  and  intricate  in  its  curious  ability  respecting  useless  pieces 
of  chop-logic,  but  the  profound  piety  which  belongs  to  every  age 
and  clime  did  not  find  much  to  comfort  it  at  St.  Victor.  These 
men  dug  shafts  and  tunnels,  they  did  not  open  foundations  and 
sink  wells  down  to  living  streams. 

Adam  of  St.  Victor,  as  I  have  said,  lived  in  those  days,  and  they 
produced  their  natural  effect  upon  his  mind  and  upon  his  writ 
ings.  He  died  somewhere  between  1172  and  1192  ;  and  while 
he  was  celebrated  as  the  expositor  of  St.  Jerome's  prefaces  to  the 
books  of  the  Bible,  and  was  known  as  the  composer  of  "  sequences, 
rhythms,  and  other  writings,"  his  fame  rests  upon  his  modern  re 
discovery  by  Monsieur  Gautier.  The  history  of  the  preservation 
of  his  hymns  is  itself  a  suggestive  commentary  on  the  difficulties 
of  Latin  hymnology,  and  so  I  give  it  entire. 

Clichtove,  a  Flemish  theologian  of  the  period  between  1500 
and  1550,  undertook  to  help  his  brethren  to  comprehend  the 
offices  of  the  Church.  His  Elucidatorium  Ecclesiastictim  was  first 
published  in  Paris  in  1515,  and  then  at  Basle  in  1517  and  1519. 
There  were  four  subsequent  editions — that  of  Paris  (1556)  being 
the  best,  and  that  of  Cologne  (1732)  being  the  latest.  Now  this 
book  was  the  great  mine  for  Latin  hymns  before  Daniel,  Trench, 
Mone,  Konigsfeld,  March,  and  others  made  them  accessible. 
And  of  Adam  of  St.  Victor  he  gives  thirty-six  specimens,  which 
were  supposed  to  be  all  that  had  remained,  with  one  or  two  pos 
sible  exceptions. 

In  1855  J.  P.  Migne  published  in  his  Patrologiae  Cttrsus,  in 
volume  196,  these  thirty-six  hymns  of  Adam  of  St.  Victor.  Arch 
bishop  Trench,  who  is  such  an  admirer  of  our  poet,  has  doubtless 


ADAM   OF  ST.    VICTOR.  229 

been  indebted  to  the  many  helpful  Latin  notes,  with  which  the 
excellent  editor  of  the  Patrologia  has  enriched  the  obscurity  of  his 
author.  At  least  so  it  seems  to  a  person  who  compares  Trench's 
own  notes  with  that  Latin. 

Monsieur  Gautier,  however,  determined  to  look  further,  the  re 
sult  being  that  he  published  the  (Euvres  Poetiques  d'  Adam  de  St. 
Victor  in  1858  at  Paris.  This  gives  us  one  hundred  and  six 
hymns — of  which  Trench  says  that  some  of  them  were  well  known 
but  anonymous  ;  and  others  are  strictly  new,  and  fully  equal  to 
his  best  compositions.  From  this  source,  then,  the  two  great 
admirers  of  Adam  of  St.  Victor — Archbishop  Trench  and  Dr. 
Neale — have  drawn  their  originals. 

I  am  not  surprised  that  theologians  should  enjoy  such  a  poet  as 
Adam.  He  is  so  terse,  so  dialectically  subtle,  so  metaphysically 
accurate,  so  allegorically  copious.  In  a  line  he  often  makes  a 
reference  which  his  editor  struggles  to  catch  in  a  foot-note  a  page 
long.  And  you  must  comprehend  the  reference  in  order  to  com 
prehend  the  poem  !  As  I  read  the  eulogy  of  Trench,  I  find  him 
saying  that  when  we  remember  Adam  of  St.  Victor's  theologic 
lore,  his  frequent  and  admirable  use  of  Scripture,  his  art  and 
variety  in  versification,  his  "  skill  in  conducting  a  story,"  and  his 
own  personal  feeling  which  permeates  his  poems,  we  must  put  him 
"foremost  among  the  sacred  Latin  poets  of  the  Middle  Ages. " 
Dr.  Neale,  too,  calls  him  "  the  greatest  of  mediaeval  poets."  And 
so,  "what  shall  he  do  that  cometh  after  the  King?"  For,  in 
spite  of  this  mighty  commendation,  and  in  spite  of  the  praise 
which  these  didactic  hymns  have  obtained,  we  cannot  and  do  not 
sing  any  of  them.  Even  Dr.  Neale  cannot  make  them  singable, 
though  he  would  probably  do  it  if  he  could. 

I  must  confess — and  take  the  risk  of  being  charged  with  stupidity 
and  ignorance — that  I  cannot  place  Adam  of  St.  Victor  where  they 
have  set  him.  Southey's  ballads  and  poems  are  legion,  as  we 
know,  and  they  are  learned  beyond  all  cavilling  ;  but  they  will  not 
live  like  the  two  or  three  little  things  of  Motherwell.  And  Adam's 
vast  congeries  of  sequences,  composed  for  all  the  saints  and  festivals 
of  the  calendar,  cannot  stand  an  instant  against  the  sweetness  of 
Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  or  the  grandeur  of  Peter  Damiani's  judg 
ment  hymn.  These  others,  it  is  true,  wrote  less,  but  they  wrote 
subjectively,  and  hence  they  appealed  to  the  heart  of  the  Christian 


230  LATIN  HYMNS. 

in  every  age.  For  verse  alone,  however  skilful,  is  not  poetry  ;  and 
the  celebration  of  saints  and  angels,  however  beautifully  accom 
plished,  ministers  nothing  to  "a  mind  diseased."  We  need  to 
feel  a  genius  which  kindles  its  watch-fire  in  the  line  of  signal — as 
did  Helena's  watchers  between  Jerusalem  and  Constantinople. 
Then,  as  this  flame  flares  up  into  the  night,  we  know  that  it 
speaks  to  us  of  the  discovery  of  the  true  cross. 

I  am  thus  compelled  to  dissent  from  the  cultus  which  has  grown 
up  about  this  brilliant,  epigrammatic,  and  altogether  admirable 
Adam.  For  he  attracts  by  his  obscurity  and  he  surprises  by  his 
intricacy  ;  and  the  interest  excited  is  that  of  the  scholar  and  of  the 
translator,  rather  than  that  of  the  popular  approval  of  the  Chris 
tians  of  to-day.  And  I  am  glad  to  support  this  opinion,  not 
merely  by  the  rather  caustic  comment  of  Professor  March,  but  by 
the  word  of  Mrs.  Charles,  where  she  speaks  of  "  his  elaborate 
system  of  Scriptural  types  occasionally  chilling  the  genuine  fire  of 
his  verse  into  a  catalogue  of  images."  And  I  must  add,  for  my 
own  justification,  that  this  "  fire"  is  the  fire  of  the  orator,  and  not 
altogether  that  of  the  poet.  It  is  objective  and  not  subjective  ; 
for  though  there  be  two  kinds  of  poetry  in  the  world,  we  cannot 
doubt  which  kind  it  is  that  "  permanently  pleases  and  takes  com 
monly  with  all  classes  of  men" — for  this  was  Aristotle's  unequalled 
definition. 

It  is  time  that  we  should  take  a  glance  at  this  laureate  of  St. 
Victor,  whose  monumental  plate  of  copper  remained,  down  to  the 
date  of  the  first  Revolution,  near  the  door  of  the  choir  in  that 
ancient  cloister.  The  epitaph  upon  it  was  mainly  drawn  from  his 
own  work.  It  breathes  the  same  contempt  of  earth  and  derision 
of  its  vanities,  which  we  find  so  common  in  that  age. 

"  Vana  saltts  hominis,  vanns  decor,  omrtia  vana  ; 
Inter  vana  nihil  vanius est  homine." 

"  Vain  is  the  welfare  of  man  and  his  fashion,  for  all  things  are  vanity  ; 
And,  in  the  midst  of  vanity,  nothing  is  vainer  than  man." 

It  was  a  later  hand  than  his  own  which,  after  selecting  those  ten 
lines  from  Adam's  own  writings,  added  four  very  inferior  verses  to 
complete  the  inscription.  These  state  that  : 

"  I  who  lie  here,  the  unfortunate  and  wretched  (miser  et  miserabilis) 
Adam,  ask  one  prayer  as  my  highest  reward  :  I  have  sinned  ;  I  confess  ; 


ADAM  OF  ST.    VICTOR. 


231 


I  seek  pardon  ;  spare  the  contrite.     Spare  me,  father  ;  spare  me,  breth 
ren  ;  spare  me,  God." 

He  was  born  in  Brittany,  to  the  best  of  our  information.  He 
studied  in  Paris,  and  finally  entered  the  walls  of  St.  Victor,  never 
to  leave  it.  It  is  a  very  brief  record,  but  it  illustrates  the  monot 
ony  and  dead  sameness  of  that  mediaeval  monastic  life.  The 
Dark  Ages  were  mud-flats,  from  which  the  tide  had  gone  out. 
And  yet  I  think  that  Adam  of  St.  Victor  had  another  side  to  him, 
which  Trench  and  Neale  might  well  have  developed — a  power  of 
livelier  rhythm  than  is  often  suspected.  The  little  stranded  fish 
perchance  gambolled  a  trifle  in  its  small  sea-water  pool. 

The  poem  which  I  quote  is  found  in  Migne  and  Gautier.  It 
differs  from  another  sequence  upon  a  similar  theme — one  which 
Dr.  Neale  has  translated.  It  is  "  The  Praise  of  the  Cross." 

This  poem,  it  will  be  seen,  is  abrupt,  irregular,  and  altogether 
inferior,  in  some  features,  to  the  usually  finished  and  elegant  dic 
tion  of  its  author.  For  this  very  reason  I  have  selected  it ;  it  ex 
hibits  Adam  of  St.  Victor  when  he  dashes  off  the  stanzas  without 
revision,  fired  by  the  glow  of  his  theme.  Only  on  this  account 
do  I  render  it,  trying  merely  to  carry  its  dash  and  spirit  into  the 
English  version. 


Salve,  Crux,  arbor 
Vitae  praeclara. 

Vexillum  Christi, 
Thronus  et  ara. 

O  Crux,  profanis 
Terror  et  ruina, 

Tu  Christianis 
Virtus  es  divina 

Salus  et  victoria. 
Tu  properantis 

Contra  Maxentium 
Tu  praeliantis 

Juxta  Danubium 

Constantini  gloria. 
Favens  Heraclio 
Perdis  cum  filio 

Chosroe  profanum. 
In  hoc  salutari 
Ligno  gloriari 

Decet  Christianum. 
Crucis  longum,  latum, 

Sublime,  profundum, 
Sanctis  propalatum 

Quadrum  salvat  mundum 
Sub  quadri  figura 

Medtcina  vera. 


Hail,  thou  Cross,  splendid 

Tree,  of  life's  own  place  ; 
Christ's  very  standard, 

Altar  and  throne-place. 
Thou  to  the  heat'.ien 

Ruin  and  terror ; 
Thou  to  the  Christian 

Bringing  joy  nearer — 

Health  and  success ! 
Thou  when  Maxentius 

Swiftly  defied— 
Thou  when  the  Danube 

Flowed  at  his  side — 
Gavest  to  Constantine 

Glory  no  less ! 
Yea,  and  Heraclius' 

Fight  thou  hast  won 
When  the  proud  Chosroes 

Fell,  with  his  son. 
So  should  a  Christian  tongue 

Boast  of  the  worth 
Of  this  most  wonderful 

Tree  of  the  earth. 
This  the  true  meuicine 

Of  the  whole  land 
Four-square  and  perfect 


232 


LATIN  HYMNS. 


Christ  us  in  statera 

Crucis  est  distractus, 

Pretiuraque  factus, 
Solvit  mortis  jura. 
Crux  est  nostrae 
Libra  justitiae 

Sceptrum  regis, 
Virga  potentiae. 

Crux,  coelestis 
Signum  victoriae. 

Belli  robur 
Et  palma  glorias. 

Tu  scala,  tu  vatis 

Tu  crux  desperatis 
Tabula  suprema. 

Tu  de  membris  Christ! 

Decorem  traxisti 
Regum  diadema. 

Ter  te  nobis  Crux  beata 
Crux,  cruore  consecrata 
Sempiterna  gaudia 
Det  superna  gratia. 
Amen ! 


As  it  shall  stand  ; 
Four-square  in  breadth  and  height, 

Depth  and  length,  ever  ; 
Shown  to  the  saints  of  God, 

Cure  for  life's  fever. 
Christ  in  such  balances, 

Poised  on  the  cross, 
Maketh  death  lightest, 

Saveth  from  loss  ! 
Yea,  the  cross  truly — 

Justest  of  scales  ! — 
For  a  king's  sceptre 

And  priest's  rod  avails. 
Cross  thou  art  surely 

Our  heavenly  sign, 
Strength  of  our  battle 

And  guerdon  divine. 
Ladder  and  life-raft 

And  plank  on  the  wave — 
Those  that  are  drowning, 

O  cross,  thou  canst  save  ! 
Thou  that  hast  carried 

The  Saviour  of  men, 
Hadst  the  best  honor 

Of  royalty,  then. 


Blessed  cross,  may  there  be  given, 
Through  that  blood,our  way  to  heaven— 
Unto  us  eternal  place 
Unto  us  celestial  grace  ! 

Aoam  s  peculiarities  are  very  marked  in  this  production.  He 
alludes,  as  you  perceive,  to  the  Cross  in  the  air  which  Constantine 
took  as  his  sign  in  which  to  conquer.  He  refers  to  Chosroes, 
King  of  Persia,  who,  after  great  successes  and  the  conquest  of  Jeru 
salem  itself,  was  finally  overcome  by  Heraclius,  the  Eastern  Em 
peror,  about  622-29  A.D.  ;  and  he  also  drags  in  a  piece  of  mysti 
cal  imagery  about  the  "four-squareness"  of  the  earth,  which  is 
hard  enough  to  understand  without  a  key.  The  key  is  one  with 
many  wards.  It  includes  the  "  breadth,  depth,  length,  and 
height"  of  the  love  of  Christ ;  it  suggests  the  appearance  of  the 
heavenly  city  of  John's  vision  ;  it  reminds  us  of  the  temple  in 
Ezekiel's  prophecy,  and  of  the  account  of  the  actual  structure  in 
i  Kings  ;  it  recalls  the  classical  geographers'  notions  about  the 
shape  of  the  earth  and  about  the  "  four  quarters,"  which  we  still 
call  east,  west,  north,  south  ;  it  finally  symbolizes  all  these  things 
by  the  four  arms  of  the  Cross  !  Is  it  any  wonder  that  Adam  of 
St.  Victor  is  a  difficult  poet  to  translate,  and  that  his  verses  are  not 
fitted  to  be  sung  ? 


ADAM  OF  ST.    VICTOR.  233 

Yet  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  Heri  mundus  exultavit  (St 
Stephen's  Day)  and  the  Veni,  Creator  Spiritus,  Spiritus  Recreator, 
are  both  his.  Nor  must  it  escape  notice  that  Dr.  Neale'  s  Mediaeval 
Hymns  contains  eleven  versions  of  Adam  of  St.  Victor  ;  while 
Dr.  Washburn,  Chancellor  Benedict,  and  other  translators  have 
quite  made  the  old  schoolman's  "sequences"  and  "proses" 
familiar  to  the  most  careless  eye.  Recently  also  we  have  the  three 
volumes  of  Mr.  Digby  S.  Wranghara  (London,  1881)  in  which 
our  poet  is  translated  entire,  the  Latin  and  English  being  placed 
upon  opposite  pages.  He  has  attained  such  an  eminence  as 
Drummond  of  Hawthornden,  who  has  come  back  to  us  because 
he  knew  Ben  Jonson  and  had  kept  and  stratified  the  spirit  of  his 
age. 

To  me  the  man  is  always  fascinating,  always  suggestive.  He 
appears  to  challenge  the  best  that  we  moderns  can  do.  His  very 
terseness  is  a  defiance.  And  here,  in  this  strange  symmetry,  I 
fancy  that  I  see  the  alertness  and  skill  of  that  wise  insect  which 
takes  hold  with  her  hands  in  kings'  palaces.  The  web  of  this 
precise  and  unvarying  artisan  often  sparkles  with  the  morning  dew 
of  a  pure  devotion.  The  lines  and  stays  and  braces  and  fashion 
ing  of  these  illustrious  verses  are  as  accurate  as  the  spider's  spin 
ning.  I  look  up  toward  the  light  and,  yonder,  upon  some  Corin 
thian  capital  of  the  song  of  songs — or  over  there  in  a  corner  of  the 
gate  called  Beautiful  through  which  Ezekiel  walks — or  again,  high 
amid  the  wisdom  of  that  Solomon's  Porch  of  the  Apocalypse 
where  stands  the  serene  John — there  I  see  how  Adam  of  St.  Victor 
has  stretched  his  web.  And  if,  now  and  then,  some  dead  fly  of 
an  obscure  allusion,  or  some  desiccated  bit  of  monasticism,  offends 
the  sight,  I  strive  to  think  only  of  the  art  that  has  spread  the  fabric 
— and  God's  glorious  sunshine  brightens,  upon  His  own  temple, 
His  little  creature's  toil  ! 

VERBUM    DEI,  DEO   NATUM. 

He,  the  Word  of  God,  the  fated 
Son,  unmade  and  uncreated 

Came  from  heaven  to  be  with  men. 
John  beheld  him.  touched  him  truly, 
Brought  him  in  this  gospel  newly 

Back  to  dwell  with  us  again. 


234  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Where  those  early  streams  were  flowing, 
Purely  from  pure  fountains  going, 

John  breaks  forth  in  fuller  tides. 
Pouring  for  the  thirsty  nations 
Those  life-giving,  sweet  libations 

Which  the  throne  of  God  provides. 

Heaven  he  trod,  wherein  the  golden 
Sun  of  truth  by  him  beholden 

pilled  his  soul's  most  secret  space. 
Dreaming,  with  his  spirit  lifted 
To  the  seraphim,  whose  shifted 

Wings  revealed  God's  very  face. 

There  he  heard  in  circle  seated 
Harpers  harp  their  oft-repeated 

Praise,  with  elders  near  the  throne  : 
By  the  seal  of  Godhead  placing 
On  our  very  speech  the  tracing 

Of  the  thoughts  of  God  alone. 

As  an  eagle,  unmolested 

Where  each  seer  and  prophet  rested, 

Far  he  flies  above  them  all : 
Never  yet  was  mortal  smitten 
By  such  secret  truths  unwritten, 

Truths  which  never  fail  or  fall. 

There  the  King,  in  vesture  splendid 
Seen,  but  yet  uncomprehended, 

Passes  to  his  palace  gate  ; 
To  his  bride,  from  his  dominion, 
He  has  sent  on  eagle's  pinion 

Tidings  of  that  mystic  state. 

Speak  thou  then  her  bridegroom's  splendor, 
Tell  of  rest  most  deep  and  tender, 

Bear  thy  message  to  the  bride. 
Tell  what  angels'  food  resembles, 
At_what  feasts  all  heaven  assembles, 

Where  their  King  shall  still  abide. 

Tell  again  what  bread  is  given, 
Purchased  by  that  side  once  riven — 

Christ's  own  bread,  himself  alone. 
How  that  company  upraises 
To  the  Lamb  its  lofty  praises, 

When  we  sing  before  the  throne. 


ADAM  OF  ST.    VICTOR.  235 

SIMPLEX  IN    ESSENTIA. 

Single  in  essential  place, 

But  of  sevenfold  power  and  grace, 

May  the  Spirit  shine  on  us  : 
May  the  light  divinely  shown 
For  all  gloom  of  heart  atone, 

And  temptations  perilous. 

Law  in  symbols  went  before  us, 
Dark  with  threats  of  judgment  o'er  us, 

Ere  we  saw  the  gospel  rays : 
May  the  spirit  of  the  sages 
Hidden  in  their  lettered  pages 

Venture  forth  in  open  ways  ! 

Law,  men  heard  from  mountain  peaks  ; 
Unto  few  the  New  Grace  speaks 

Softly,  in  a  room  above  : 
Thus  the  spot  itself  is  teaching 
Which  are  best  within  our  reaching — 

Works  of  law  or  words  of  love. 

Flame  and  trumpet  sounding  loud 
Thunder  through  the  smoky  shroud  ; 

Sudden-flashing  lightnings — those 
Strike  a  terror  to  the  soul  ; 
Nourishing  no  sweet  control 

Which  the  Spirit's  gift  bestows. 

Thus  the  sundered 
Sinai  thundered, 

Fixing  law  and  guilty  man. 
Law  most  fearful 
And  uncheerful, 

Crushing  sin  by  rigid  plan. 

But  the  fathers  long  selected, 
And  to  power  divine  directed 

How  they  loose  the  bonds  of  sin  ! 
Words  refreshing,  threats  astounding 
Through  new  tongues  in  concord  sounding 

Thus  their  miracles  begin. 

Showing  care  for  them  that  languish. 
Sparing  man  they  spare  not  anguish 
In  pursuit  of  evil  things. 


236  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Smiting  sinners,  and  reminding, 
Only  loosing,  only  binding 

By  the  power  which  freedom  brings. 

Type  of  Jubilee  returning 

Is  that  day  (if  thou  art  learning 

Mysteries  of  holy  time) 
On  the  which  three  thousand  hearing, 
Came  in  faith,  no  longer  fearing, 

And  the  Church  sprang  up  sublime. 

Jubilee,  for  so  they  knew  it. 

Who  were  changed  and  succored  through  it, 

Since  it  freely  called  unto  it 

Debts  and  doubts,  and  set  them  right. 
May  the  loving  kindness  spoken 
Unto  us  distressed  and  broken, 
Give  release,  and  as  a  token 

Make  us  worthy  of  the  light. 


ZYMA   VETUS   EXPURGETUR. 

Purge  away  the  ancient  leaven, 
Let  a  paschal  joy  be  given, 

For  our  Lord  is  risen  again. 
This  the  day  of  better  vision. 
This  the  day  of  vast  decision, 

By  the  Word  of  God  to  men. 

This  despoiled  Egyptian  spoilers, 
This  set  free  the  Hebrew  toilers 

From  the  bonds  in  which  they  lay, 
Where,  in  iron  furnace  fastened, 
Tyrants  all  their  labor  hastened 

In  cement  and  straw  and  clay. 

Now  in  praise  of  holy  living, 
Holy  triumph,  godlike  giving, 

Let  the  free  voice  sound  its  strain. 
This  the  day  the  Lord  created, 
This  our  grief  has  terminated, 

Comfort  bringing  to  our  pain. 

Things  to  come  let  law  betoken, 
Christ  shows  promises  unbroken, 
Still  appearing  all  in  all. 


ADAM  OF  ST.    VICTOR.  237 

Through  his  blood  the  sword  though  awful 
Blunted  droops — our  way  is  lawful, 
And  the  prohibitions  fall. 

He  who  gave  us  cause  of  laughter, 
(Since  the  rescue  followed  after) 

Glad  of  heart  is  Isaac  still  ; 
Joseph  from  the  pit  is  lifted, 
As  from  death  our  Lord,  through  rifted 

Clouds  that  veiled  the  heavenly  will. 

Thus  that  serpent-rod,  surprising 
Malice  in  its  worst  devising, 

Swallowed  all  the  other  rods. 
Thus  the  brazen  serpent  vying 
With  the  poison,  when  the  dying 

Trusted  God  instead  of  gods. 

Through  the  jaw,  with  hook  and  cable 
Christ  to  seize  the  foe  is  able  ; 

On  the  cockatrice's  den 
He,  the  weaned  child,  is  sitting, 
While  afar  in  fear  is  flitting 

That  old  enemy  of  men. 

They  who  laughed  at  good  Elias 
Feel  the  cursing  of  the  pious 

Struck  by  vengeance  undeferred  ; 
While  King  David  feigning  madness, 
And  the  goat  that  bears  our  sadness 

Flee  as  does  the  sacred  bird. 

Samson  with  a  jawbone  merely 
Slays  a  thousand  foes,  and  clearly 

Spurns  alliance  to  their  name. 
Samson  breaking  Gaza's  portal, 
Bears  it  off,  as  life  immortal 

Bursts  the  gate  of  deathly  shame. 

Thus  does  Judah's  Lion  ever 

Burst  the  bonds  that  none  may  sever. 

When  the  third  day  glimmers  on  ; 
At  his  Father's  voice  awaking, 
To  the  Church's  bosom  taking 

Many  a  dear  and  ransomed  son. 


238  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Jonah  stayed  when  he  was  flying — 

This  true  Jonah  signifying — 

Marks  a  day  when  safe,  through  dying, 

Christ  from  depth  of  earth  arose. 
Now  the  cypress  blossom  brightens, 
Now  the  cluster  spreads  and  heightens. 
Now  the  churchly  lily  whitens, 

Waving  over  Jewish  foes. 

Death  and  life  together  striving 
Hinder  not  the  Christ  reviving, 
And  with  him  are  saints  deriving 

Resurrection  through  his  blood. 
Morning  new  and  full  of  gladness. 
How  it  cheers  our  every  sadness  ; 
God  hath  conquered  Satan's  madness 

In  this  time  of  joy  and  good  ! 

Jesus,  victor,  who  hast  given 
Life  ;  our  Only  Way  to  heaven  ; 
Who  by  death  our  death  hast  shriven, 
Bid  us  to  thy  feast,  nay,  even 

Grant  us  faith  with  which  to  come. 
Living  bread,  fount  unabated, 
Vine  of  truth,  with  fruit  unsated, 
Feed  ihou  us  thy  new-created, 
That  from  death  reanimated 

By  thy  grace  we  gain  our  home  ! 

PLAUSU    CHORUS    LyETEBUNDE. 

(Translated  by  Dr.  A.  R.  Thompson.) 

With  abounding  joy  applauding, 
Now,  the  men  our  songs  are  lauding, 

Who  rung  out  the  gospel  sound. 
Like  the  sun's  outstreaming  glory 
Chasing  night  away,  their  story 

Carries  life  the  world  around. 

For  his  flock  the  Shepherd  careth, 
And  his  law  for  them  prepareth, 

In  a  fourfold  gift  of  love. 
All  the  world  shall  know  the  healing 
Of  his  law  of  life,  revealing 

Strength  and  beauty  from  above. 


ADAM  OF  ST.    VICTOR.  239 

Toward  the  truth,  complete  in  splendor, 
Each  a  service  has  to  render, 

Given  to  him  specially. 
This  is  shown  from  forms  created, 
As  it  were  anticipated 

In  a  vivid  prophecy. 

Piercing  through  the  clouds  low  lying, 
John,  upon  an  eagle  flying, 

Looks  the  very  sun  upon. 
Rising  to  the  height  of  heaven, 
In  the  Father's  bosom  even, 

He  beholds  the  Eternal  One. 

Face  and  form  of  man  betoken 
Matthew,  for  by  him  are  spoken 

Words,  which  tell  that  to  our  race 
God  himself  has  now  descended, 
And  the  God  and  Man,  now  blended, 

Takes  in  David's  line  his  place. 

Ox  with  open  mouth,  assigns  he 
Unto  Luke,  by  him  designs  he 

Christ  a  Victim  to  display. 
Cross  for  altar  he  receiveth, 
There  our  peace  his  death  achieveth, 

Olden  rites  have  passed  away. 

Face  of  rugged,  roused  up  lion 
Is  for  Mark — 'tis  his  to  cry  on 

With  an  all-pervading  sound, 
Of  the  Christ,  raised  up  victorious 

y  the  Father's  power  all-glorious, 

With  immortal  splendor  crowned. 

In  this  fourfold  way  of  wonder 
To  the  world  God  cometh  ;  under 

Vestments  such  the  ark  is  borne. 
Forth  from  paradise  are  flowing 
These  new  streams  of  mercy,  going 

To  refresh  the  world  forlorn. 

Never  will  the  house  fall,  surely, 
Built  on  fourfold  wall  securely, 

Thus  the  house  of  God  doth  rest. 
In  this  house,  oh  wondrous  story  ! 
Dwells  the  Blessed  in  his  glory, 

God  with  man  in  union  blessed. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

THOMAS    OF    CELANO. 

HYMNOLOGISTS  have  their  favorites  among  the  sacred  singers  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  but  all  concede  the  first  place  to  the  poet  who 
gave  the  world  the  Dies  Irae,  the  great  sequence  or  "  prose"  sung 
in  the  service  for  the  dead  of  the  Latin  Church.  It  has  attracted 
more  attention  than  any  other  single  hymn.  Whole  books  have 
been  written  about  it.  It  is  indissolubly  associated  in  the  history 
of  music  with  Mozart's  wonderful  "Requiem,"  and  in  that  of 
literature  with  the  concluding  scenes  of  the  first  part  of  "  Faust." 
More  translations  have  been  made  of  it  than  of  any  other  poem  in 
the  Latin  language,  or  perhaps  in  any  language.  All  Christendom 
rejoices  in  it  as  a  common  treasure,  the  gift  of  God  through  a 
devout  Italian  monk  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

It  was  in  an  age  full  of  vitality  that  this  "  hymn  of  the  giants" 
was  written— the  most  interesting  century  in  the  history  of  Chris 
tendom,  Matthew  Arnold  says.  In  all  directions  we  encounter 
the  play  or  collision  of  great  forces.  The  Papacy,  the  Empire, 
the  Crusades,  the  Mendicant  Orders,  and  even,  in  its  way,  the 
Inquisition,  give  evidence  of  the  working  of  a  spirit  of  energy  and 
movement,  which  places  the  century  in  sharp  contrast  to  the  less 
explicit  development  which  had  preceded,  and  the  age  of  compar 
ative  exhaustion  which  followed.  Nowhere  was  this  more  visible 
than  in  the  characters  of  the  great  Churchmen  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  Popes  like  Innocent  III.  and  Gregory  IX.,  founders  of 
orders  like  Dominic  and  Francis,  theologians  like  Aquinas  and 
Bonaventura,  may  excite  our  admiration  or  our  censure,  but  they 
are  men  of  such  magnitude  as  are  not  to  be  found  in  other  cen 
turies  in  the  same  number.  They  were  live  men,  and  they  have 
made  a  lasting  impression  upon  the  world  by  the  force  of  their 
vitality. 

Two  of  these,  Aquinas  and  Bonaventura,  we  shall  meet  again 
as  hymn-writers.  But  first  we  have  to  deal  with  one  whose  chief 


THOMAS  OF  CELANO.  241 

claim  to  recollection  is  a  single  great  hymn.  Thomas  of  Celano 
was  an  Italian  at  a  time  when  Italy  was  stirred  by  the  great  battle 
of  Pope  with  Emperor  into  an  intellectual  life,  which  was  to  cul 
minate  in  Dante  at  the  close  of  the  century.  Exactly  in  its  last 
year  the  writing  of  the  Divina  Commedia  was  to  begin.  The 
troubles  of  his  time  must  have  come  very  close  to  Thomas.  His 
native  city  of  Celano,  a  town  of  the  old  Marsians,  was  one  of  the 
first  to  suffer  under  the  hand  of  Frederick  II.  In  1223  it  was 
forced  to  capitulate  by  the  Count  of  Acerra,  Thomas  of  Aquinas, 
the  warlike  uncle  and  namesake  of  the  great  theologian.  The 
inhabitants  were  compelled  to  leave  their  houses,  taking  all  their 
movables,  and  the  place  was  burned  to  the  ground,  only  the 
church  of  St  John  being  left  standing  among  the  ruins.  The 
people,  to  punish  their  disloyalty  to  the  Emperor,  were  transported 
to  Sicily,  Malta,  and  Calabria,  whence  they  returned  to  rebuild 
their  town  after  their  enemy's  death.  How  old  Thomas  was  at 
the  time  of  this  calamity,  and  whether  it  had  anything  to  do  with 
his  becoming  a  monk  of  the  Order  of  Francis  of  Assisi,  we  do  not 
know.  But  certainly  it  is  not  impossible  that  the  spectacle  of  this 
dies  irae,  when  the  sanctities  of  his  boyhood's  home  were  left 
desolate,  or  even  the  news  of  its  occurrence  in  his  absence,  may 
have  left  a  permanent  impression  upon  his  mind,  and  may  have 
suggested  more  or  less  directly  his  great  hymn. 

Celano  lay  in  the  northern  end  of  the  Kingdom  of  Naples,  as  it 
was  afterward  called,  across  the  Apennines  from  Rome  and  slightly 
north  of  it.  It  was  not  far  from  the  northern  boundary  of  Fred 
erick's  hereditary  dominions,  across  which  lay  the  Umbrian  region, 
where  Assisi  is  situated.  At  some  time  and  in  some  way  Thomas 
made  his  way  to  Assisi,  and  came  under  the  influence  of  the 
wonderful  man  whose  personality  has  made  the  mountain  town  a 
place  of  pilgrimage  even  for  those  who  are  not  of  the  Latin  com 
munion. 

Francis  of  Assisi  is  one  of  the  strangest,  if  also  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  figures  in  the  history  of  Christendom.  Protestants  vie 
with  Catholics,  Karl  Hase  and  Margaret  Oliphant  with  Frederic 
Ozanam  and  Joseph  Goerres,  in  depicting  this  devout  and  child 
like  spirit,  who  took  poverty  for  his  bride  and  set  himself  to  realize 
in  the  utmost  literalness  the  command  to  go  forth  to  preach  re 
pentance  and  forgiveness  of  sins,  taking  neither  scrip  nor  purse, 


242  LATIN  HYMNS. 

and  possessing  no  more  than  the  absolute  necessaries  of  human 
existence.  At  first  he  had  no  thought  of  founding  an  order,  but 
only  of  helping  the  poor  and  the  suffering  for  Christ's  sweet  sake. 
But  the  divine  fire  of  loving  humility  and  childlike  simplicity  in 
the  man  drew  others  inevitably  to  his  side,  until  there  arose  in  his 
mind  the  sense  of  a  great  vocation  to  gather  men  into  a  new  form 
of  brotherhood.  "  Fear  not,"  he  said  to  his  earliest  disciples, 
"  in  that  ye  seem  few  and  simple-minded.  Preach  repentance  to 
the  world,  trusting  in  Him  who  hath  overcome  the  world,  that 
His  Spirit  speaks  through  you.  You  will  find  some  to  receive 
you  and  your  word  with  joy,  if  still  more  to  resist  and  mock  you. 
Bear  all  that  with  patience  and  meekness.  Take  no  heed  for  your 
simplicity  or  mine.  In  a  short  time  the  wise  and  the  noble  will 
come  to  preach  with  you  before  princes  and  people,  and  many 
will  be  turned  to  the  Lord.  He  has  shown  it  to  me,  and  in  mine 
ears  there  is  a  sound  of  the  multitude  of  disciples  who  are  to 
come  to  us  out  of  every  people.  The  French  are  on  the  way  ;  the 
Spaniards  are  hurrying  ;  the  Germans  and  English  run  ;  and  a 
multitude  of  other  tongues  hasten  hither. ' '  So  Thomas  of  Celano 
records  his  words  in  his  biography  of  the  saint,  which  is  the  freest 
from  exaggerations  and  the  most  trustworthy  of  them  all. 

As  Thomas  survived  Francis  some  thirty  years,  there  is  no 
reason  to  regard  him  as  one  of  the  group  of  the  first  disciples  who 
began  to  gather  around  the  founder  as  early  as  1209.  He  is  not 
named  among  "  the  twelve  apostles"  who  came  first.  But  the  re 
lation  between  the  two  men  seems  to  have  been  more  than  usually 
close  and  intimate.  Perhaps  it  was  the  more  so  as  being  founded 
on  contrasts  rather  than  on  resemblances  in  their  characters.  For 
Francis  was  distinguished  from  other  teachers  of  his  age  by  the 
bright  and  cheerful  views  he  entertained  of  God  and  His  love  to 
mankind.  This  was  the  theme  of  his  sayings  and  his  songs  ;  this 
he  preached  to  the  poor  when  they  streamed  out  of  the  Italian 
cities  to  welcome  him  as  one  who  brought  comfort  and  joy  to  the 
downcast.  They  emphasized  their  sense  of  the  difference  between 
him  and  the  ordinary  preachers  by  saying,  "  He  hears  those  whom 
even  God  will  not  hear  !"  Thomas,  on  the  other  hand,  seems  to 
have  been  constitutionally  predisposed  to  look  at  the  darker  side 
of  things,  to  sing  of  judgment  rather  than  of  mercy.  But  he,  too, 
.found  comfort  in  the  heart-sunshine  of  his  master.  "  His  words 


THOMAS  OF  CELANO.  243 

were  like  fire, "  he  says,  "  penetrating  the  heart."  "  How  lovely, 
splendid,  glorious  he  appeared  in  innocence  of  life,  in  simplicity 
of  speech,  in  purity  of  heart,  in  divine  delight,  in  brotherly  love, 
in  constant  obedience,  in  loving  harmony,  in  angelic  aspect." 
He  found  in  Francis  the  most  perfect  realization  of  the  Christian 
ideal  that  he  or  his  century  could  conceive  of ;  and  shall  we  not 
admit  with  George  Macdonald  that  a  perfect  monk  is  a  very  fine 
thing  in  his  way,  although  much  less  so  than  a  perfect  man  ? 

Their  sympathies  as  poets  must  have  drawn  them  together. 
Francis,  as  Joseph  Goerres  well  says,  was  a  troubadour  as  well  as 
a  saint  In  his  youth  he  had  won  distinction  as  a  singer  of 
worldly  songs  in  the  provencal  French,  which  was  then  the  lan 
guage  of  literature  in  Northern  Italy.  After  his  conversion  he 
burst  out  singing  the  praises  of  God  in  this  same  foreign  and 
exotic  tongue.  But  as  he  became  more  directly  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  his  fellow-men,  he  began  to  use  his  gift  of  song  in  his 
native  Italian.  How  many  of  the  poems  that  are  printed  under 
his  name  are  really  his  own,  and  how  many  are  the  work  of  his 
disciple,  Jacopone  da  Todi,  is  matter  of  dispute.  But  even  Father 
Affo  (1777),  the  most  negative  of  critics  on  this  point,  does  not 
deny  his  authorship  of  the  wonderful  "  Song  of  the  Sun,"  also 
called  the  "  Song  of  the  Creatures,"  in  which  the  childlike  delight 
of  the  saint  in  God's  works  finds  such  charming  expression,  that 
Matthew  Arnold  has  singled  it  out  as  the  utterance  of  what  is  most 
exquisite  in  the  spirit  of  his  century.  Thomas,  too,  it  was  known, 
had  the  poetic  gift,  and  indeed  was  recognized  by  his  brethren  as 
the  man  of  most  literary  power  in  the  order.  Upon  him  they  laid 
the  duty  of  compiling  the  founder's  biography,  and  of  writing  the 
' '  legend  ' '  of  his  life,  which  should  be  read  in  the  breviary  service 
on  the  day  of  his  commemoration. 

Yet  he  also  was  recognized  as  possessing  practical  gifts.  The 
order  had  spread  into  Germany  as  well  as  in  the  other  directions 
of  which  Francis  had  prophesied.  The  first  attempts  to  establish 
it  north  of  the  Alps,  made  in  1216,  were  not  happy.  The  Italians 
sent  on  this  mission  knew  only  one  German  word,  "  Ja  !"  "  Are 
you  heretics?"  (Sind Sie  Ketzerf*)  was  the  first  question  put  to 
them  on  Teutonic  soil  ;  and  knowing  nothing  else  to  say,  they 
said  "  Ja  !"  So  they  were  marched  across  the  frontier  again  in 
disgrace.  But  brethren  better  provided  in  the  matter  of  their 


244  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Ollendorff  had  been  sent  five  years  later,  and  now  Thomas  of  Celano 
was  one  of  those  who  had  been  selected  for  the  German  mission,  to 
give  stability  and  unity  to  the  work  there.  He  was  made  "  custos' ' 
of  the  monasteries  at  Mainz,  Worms  and  Koeln  (Cologne),  and 
even  took  charge  of  the  whole  province  when  its  head  returned 
to  Assisi.  We  find  Thomas  himself  back  in  Assisi  by  1230, 
where  Jordan,  the  "  custos"  of  the  Thuringian  monasteries,  came 
to  see  him. 

Francis  had  died  in  1226,  but  whether  Thomas  was  actual 
witness  of  his  last  days,  or  derived  his  knowledge  of  them  from 
others,  his  is  recognized  as  the  authentic  account  of  the  saint's 
departure.  His  own  death  is  said  to  have  occurred  in  1255,  but 
what  events  filled  up  the  meantime,  besides  the  biographic  labors 
we  have  mentioned,  is  not  known.  Perhaps  it  was  in  those  years 
that  he  composed  his  great  sequence,  as  his  mind,  when  less 
directly  brightened  by  the  influence  of  his  master,  would  be  more 
likely  to  revert  to  those  trains  of  thought  which  corresponded  to 
his  natural  disposition.  Possibly  it  was  as  his  own  life  was  draw 
ing  to  a  close,  and  the  shadows  of  the  Great  Day  gathered  nearer 
him,  that  he  poured  out  his  soul  in  his  great  hymn — the  greatest 
of  all  hymns,  unless  we  except  the  Te  Deum. 

Besides  the  Dies  Irae,  there  are  ascribed  to  Thomas  two  other 
sequences — 

Fregit  victor  virttialis 
and 

Sanctitatis  nova  signa, 

both  in  commemoration  of  Francis.  As  the  founder  of  the  Minor 
Friars  was  canonized  two  years  after  his  death  by  Gregory  IX., 
there  was  a  demand  very  early  for  the  hymns  of  this  character. 
And  as  there  was  no  one  better  fitted  to  write  them  than  the  poet 
who  had  known  Francis  so  well,  and  whom  the  Pope  had  directed 
to  prepare  a  life  of  the  saint,  there  is  no  inherent  improbability  in 
the  tradition  which  ascribes  them  to  him.  But  they  do  not  take 
rank  beside  the  Dies  Irae.  They  are  poems  written  to  order,  not 
the  spontaneous  outpouring  of  the  mind  of  the  singer  in  the  pres 
ence  of  the  overwhelming  realities  of  the  spiritual  universe. 

There  are  no  less  than  nine  persons  for  whom  the  honor  of  the 
authorship  of  the  Dies  Irae  has  been  claimed.  Two  of  these  are 
excluded  as  having  lived  too  early  to  have  written  a  poem  of  its 


THOMAS  OF  CELANO.  245 

structure  and  metrical  character  ;  they  are  Gregory  the  Great  and 
Bernard  of  Clairvaux.  Two  others,  Augustinus  Bugellensis  (ob. 
1490)  and  Felix  Hammerlein  (ob.  1457)  are  excluded  by  the  fact 
that  the  hymn  is  mentioned  in  a  work  written  in  1285.  This 
leaves  four  rivals  to  Thomas  of  Celano  in  his  own  century,  viz., 
John  Bonaventura  (ob.  1274),  his  brother  Cardinal,  Latino  Frangi- 
pani,  a  Dominican  (ob.  1294),  Humbert,  a  French  Franciscan, 
who  became  the  fifth  general  of  his  order  (ob.  1277),  and  Mat 
thew  of  Acqua-Sparta  in  Umbria,  a  Franciscan,  who  became  Bishop 
of  Albano  and  cardinal  (ob.  1302).  But  it  is  to  be  noticed  that 
for  not  one  of  these  is  there  a  witness  earlier  than  the  sixteenth 
century.  The  first  and  last  are  named  as  having  had  the  author 
ship  ascribed  to  them  by  Luke  Wadding,  the  historian  of  the 
Franciscans  in  1625  ;  but  he  ascribes  it  to  Thomas  of  Celano. 
The  other  two  are  named  by  the  Jesuit,  Antonio  Possevino  (1534- 
1611)  and  the  Dominican,  Leandro  Alberti  (1479-1552),  the  latter, 
of  course,  claiming  the  hymn  for  the  Dominican  cardinal,  as  to 
whom  there  is  not  the  smallest  evidence  that  he  ever  wrote  any 
poetry  whatever.  Besides  this,  the  Dies  Irae  is  a  Franciscan,  not 
a  Dominican  poem.  It  deals  with  the  practical  and  the  devo 
tional,  not  the  doctrinal  elements  in  religion.  Had  a  Dominican 
written  it,  he  would  have  been  anxious  only  for  correct  doctrinal 
statement. 

Thomas's  claim  to  its  authorship  does  not  rest  on  the  weakness 
of  rival  pretensions.  In  the  year  1285,  when  Thomas  had  been 
dead  about  thirty  years  and  Dante  was  twenty  years  old,  the  Fran 
ciscan  Bartholomew  of  Pisa  wrote  his  Liber  Conformilalum,  in 
which  he  drew  a  labored  parallel  between  the  life  of  Francis  of 
Assisi  and  that  of  our  Lord.  Having  occasion  to  speak  of  Celano 
in  this  work,  he  goes  on  to  describe  it  as  "  the  place  whence  came 
Brother  Thomas,  who  by  order  of  the  Pope  wrote  in  polished 
speech  the  first  legend  of  St.  Francis,  and  is  said  to  have  composed 
the  prose  which  is  sung  in  the  Mass  for  the  Dead  :  Dies  irae,  dia 
ilia. '  '*  This  testimony  out  of  Thomas's  own  century  is  confirmew 


*  Custodia  Pennensis  habet  locum  Celani,  de  quo  fuit  f rater  Thomas,  qiti 
mandato  apostolico  scripsit  sermone  polito  legendam  primam  bead  Francisci  et 
prosam  de  mortuis,  quae  decantatur  in  missa,  scilicet  "  Dies  irae,  dies  ilia," 
etc. ,  fecisse  dicitur. 


246  LATIN  HYMNS. 

by  parallel  evidence.  Wadding,  whose  big  folios  in  clumsy  Latin 
give  us  the  tradition  which  prevailed  within  the  order,  says  : 
"  Brother  Thomas  of  Celano  sang  that  once  celebrated  sequence, 
Sanciitatis  nova  signa,  which  now  has  gone  out  of  use,  whose  work 
also  is  that  solemn  one  for  the  dead,  Dies  irae,  dies  ilia,  although 
others  wish  to  ascribe  it  to  Brother  Matthew  of  Acqua-Sparta,  a 
cardinal  taken  from  among  the  Minorites."  Elsewhere  Wadding 
says  :  "  Thomas  of  Celano,  of  the  province  of  Penna,  a  disciple  and 
companion  of  St.  Francis,  published  ...  a  book  about  the  Life 
and  Miracles  of  St.  Francis  .  .  .  commonly  called  by  the  breth 
ren  the  Old  Legend.  Another  shorter  legend  he  had  published 
previously  which  used  to  be  read  in  the  choir  .  .  .  ;  three 
sequences,  or  rhythmic  proses,  of  which  the  first,  in  praise  of  St. 
Francis,  begins,  Fregit  victor  virtualis.  The  second  begins, 
Sanctilatis  nova  signa.  The  third  concerning  the  dead,  adopted 
by  the  Church,  Dies  irae,  dies  ilia.  And  this  Benedict  Gonon,  the 
Coelestine  [in  1625]  rendered  into  French  verse  and  ascribed  to 
St  Bonaventura.  Others  ascribe  it  to  Brother  Matthew,  of  Acqua- 
Sparta,  the  cardinal ;  and  others  yet  to  other  authors. "  * 

These  direct  testimonies  are  confirmed  by  local  tradition  in  the 
province  of  Abruzzi,  in  which  Celano  is  situated,  and  the  Francis 
can  origin  of  the  hymn  by  its  existence  as  an  inscription  on  a 
marble  tablet  in  the  church  of  St.  Francis  at  Mantua,  where  it  was 
seen  by  David  Chytrseus,  a  German  Lutheran,  who  visited  Italy 


*  Sequentiam  illam  olim  celebrem,  quac  nunc  excidit :  "  Sanctitatis  nova 
signa"  cecinit  frater  Thomas  de  Celano,  cujus  et  ilia  solemnis  mortuorum  : 
"  Dies  irae,  dies  ilia  "  opus  est,  licet  alii  earn  tribuere  velint  fratri  Matthaeo 
Aquaspartano,  cardinali  ex  minffritis  desumpto. — Annales  Minorum,  Tom. 
\\.,p.  204  (Lyons,  1625.) 

Thomas  de  Celano,  provinciae  Pennensis,  S.  Francisci  discipulas  et  socius, 
edidit  .  .  .  librum  de  vita  et  miraculis  S.  Francisci  .  .  .  communiter 
vocatum  a  fratribus  legenda  antiqua.  Alttram  legendam  minorem  prius 
ediderat,  quae  legebatur  in  choro  .  .  .  ;  sequentias  Ires,  seu  Prosas 
Rhythmicas,  quarum  prima  in  laudem  S.  Francisci  incipit :  "  Fregil  victor 
virtualis."  Secunda  incipit:  "Sanctitatis  nova  signa."  Tertia  de  De- 
functis  ab  EcclesiA  recepta  :  "  Dies  irae,  dies  ilia."  Quatn  in  versus  Galileos 
transtulit  Benedictus  Gononus  Cotlestinus  et  sancto  Bonaventurae  attribuit. 
Alii  adsciibunt  Fr.  Matthaeo  cardinali  Aquaspartano,  et  demum  alii  aliis 
auctoribus. — Syllabus  Scriptorum  et  Martyrum  Franciscanorum,  p.  323 
(Rome,  1650.) 


THOMAS  OF   CELANO.  247 

in  1565.  That  the  author  was  an  Italian  is  indicated  by  the 
peculiar  three-line  stanza,  which  approximates  to  the  terza-rima 
structure  of  their  poetry,  but  is  not  found  in  poetry  of  the  North 
ern  nations,  except  in  later  imitations. 

The  statement  of  Bartholomew  of  Pisa,  that  already  in  1285  the 
Dies  Irae  was  employed  in  the  service  for  the  dead,  shows  how 
early  it  made  its  way  into  church  use.  In  earlier  times  there  was 
no  sequence  in  that  service,  for  the  reason  that  the  "  Hallelujah," 
which  the  sequence  always  followed,  being  a  song  of  rejoicing, 
was  not  sung  in  the  funeral  service.  This  enables  us  to  form  an 
opinion  on  the  controversy  as  to  whether  it  was  written  directly  for 
church  use,  or  adapted  for  that  after  being  written  as  a  meditation 
on  the  Day  of  Judgment  for  private  edification.  It  would  seem 
most  probable  that  it  was  the  wonderful  beauty  and  power  of  the 
hymn  which  led  the  Church  to  break  through  its  rule  as  to  the 
sequence  following  a  Hallelujah  necessarily.  The  Dies  Irae  was 
not  written  to  fill  a  place,  but  when  written  it  made  a  place  for 
itself. 

This  controversy  connects  itself  with  another  as  to  the  genuine 
ness  of  certain  verses  which  are  prefixed  or  added  to  the  eighteen 
of  the  text  in  the  Missal.  There  are,  in  fact,  three  texts  of  the 
hymn  :  (i)  That  of  the  Missal,  which  is  generally  followed,  and 
will  be  found  at  the  end  of  this  chapter.  (2)  That  of  the  Mantuan 
marble  tablet,  which  prefixes  four  verses  : 

1.  Cogita,  anima  fidelis, 
Ad  quid  respondere  velis 
Christo  venture  de  coelis. 

2.  Cum  deposcit  rationem 
Ob  boni  omissioncm, 
Ob  mail  commissionem. 

3.  Dies  ilia,  dies  irae, 
Quam  conemur  praevenire 
Obviamque  Deo  ire. 

4.  Seria  contritione, 
Gratiae  apprehensione, 
Vitae  emendatione. 

After  these  come  in  the  Mantuan  text  the  first  sixteen  verses  of 
the  Missal  text,  with  slight  and  unimportant  variations,  but  the 


248  LATIN  HYMNS. 

seventeenth  and  eighteenth  are  omitted,  and  the  following  con 
clusion  substituted  : 

17.  Censors  ut  beatitatis 
Vivam  cum  justificatis. 
In  aevum  aeternitatis.     Amen. 

(3)  The  Hammerlein  text,  so  called  because  found  among 
the  manuscripts  of  Felix  Hammerlein  after  his  death,  which 
occurred  about  1457.  This  also  contains  the  first  sixteen  verses 
of  the  Missal  text,  but  with  far  more  variations  than  the  Mantuan 
text  shows,  although  not  such  as  commend  themselves  by  their 
merits.  Then  it  proceeds,  altering  and  expanding  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  into  three  and  adding  five  more  : 

17.  Oro  supplex  a  minis, 

Cor  contritum  quasi  cinis  ; 
Gere  curam  mei  finis. 

18.  Lacrymosa  die  ilia, 
Cum  resurget  ex  favilla 
Tanquam  ignis  ex  scintilla, 

19.  Judicandus  homo  reus, — 
Hinc  ergo  parce  Deus, 
Esto  semper  adjutor  meus. 

20.  Quando  coeli  sunt  movendi, 
Dies  adsunt  tune  tremendi, 
Nullum  tempus  poenitendi. 

21.  Sed  salvatis  laeta  dies  ; 
Et  damnatis  nulla  quies, 
Sed  daemonum  effigies. 

22.  O  tu  Deus  majestatis, 
Alme  candor  Trinitatis, 
Nunc  conjunge  cum  beatis. 

23.  Vitam  meam  fac  felicem, 
Propter  tuam  genetricem, 
Jesse  florem  et  radicem. 

24.  Praesta  nobis  tune  levamen, 
Dulce  nostrum  fac  certamen, 
Ut  clamemus  omnes  :  Amen  ! 


THOMAS  OF  CELANO.  249 

That  neither  of  these  additions  at  the  beginning  and  end  are 
parts  of  the  original  sequence,  will  be  evident  to  any  one  who 
feels  the  terseness  and  power  of  the  original.  They  are  feeble, 
lumbering  excrescences,  and  are  fastened  to  it  in  such  an  external 
way  as  to  destroy  the  unity  of  the  poem,  if  left  as  they  stand. 
The  text  in  the  Missal  gives  us  a  new  conception  of  the  powers  of 
the  Latin  tongue.  Its  wonderful  wedding  of  sense  to  sound — the 
u  assonance  in  the  second  stanza,  the  o  assonance  in  the  third,  and 
the  a  and  i  assonances  in  the  fourth,  for  instance — the  sense  of 
organ  music  that  runs  through  the  hymn,  even  unaccompanied,  as 
distinctly  as  through  the  opening  verses  of  Lowell's  "  Vision  of 
Sir  Launfal,"  and  the  transitions  as  clearly  marked  in  sound  as 
in  meaning  from  lofty  adoration  to  pathetic  entreaty,  impart  a 
grandeur  and  dignity  to  the  Dies  Irae  which  are  unique  in  this 
kind  of  writing.  Then  the  wonderful  adaptation  of  the  triple- 
rhyme  to  the  theme — like  blow  following  blow  of  hammer  upon 
anvil,  as  Daniel  says — impresses  every  reader.  But  to  all  this  the 
supplementary  verses  add  nothing. 

Of  the  use  of  the  hymn  in  literature  I  have  spoken  already.  Sir 
Walter  Scott  introduces  a  vigorous  and  characteristic  version  of  a 
portion  into  his  "  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel  "  (1805).  Lockhart, 
writing  of  the  great  Wizard's  death-bed,  says  of  his  unconscious 
and  wandering  utterances  :  "  Whatever  we  could  follow  him  in 
was  some  fragment  of  the  Bible,  or  some  petition  of  the  Litany, 
or  a  verse  of  some  psalm  in  the  old  Scotch  metrical  version,  or 
some  of  the  magnificent  hymns  of  the  Romish  ritual.  We  very 
often  heard  distinctly  the  cadence  of  the  Dies  Irae. ' '  So  the  Earl 
of  Roscommon,  in  the  previous  century,  died  repeating  his  own 
version  of  the  seventeenth  stanza  : 

"  Prostrate,  my  contrite  heart  I  rend  ; 
My  God,  my  Father,  and  my  Friend, 
Do  not  forsake  me  in  my  end  !" 

Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  never  could  repeat  the  tenth  stanza  with 
out  being  moved  to  tears — the  stanza  Dean  Stanley  quotes  in  his 
description  of  Jacob's  Well.  Goethe  makes  Gretchen  in  "  Faust" 
faint  with  dismay  and  horror  as  she  hears  it  sung  in  the  cathedral, 
and  from  that  moment  of  salutary  pain  she  becomes  another 
woman.  Meinhold  in  his  "  Amber- Witch"  (Die  Bernsteinhexe), 


250  LATIAr  HYMNS. 

represents  the  very  same  verses  as  bringing  comfort  and  assurance 
to  a  more  stainless  heroine  in  the  hour  of  her  sorest  distress. 
Carlyle  shows  us  the  Romanticist  tragedian  Werner  quoting  the 
eighth  stanza  in  his  strange  "last  testament,"  as  his  reason  for 
having  written  neither  a  defence  nor  an  accusation  of  his  life  : 
"  With  trembling  I  reflect  that  I  myself  shall  first  learn  in  its 
whole  terrific  compass  what  I  properly  was,  when  these  lines  shall 
be  read  by  men  •  that  is  to  say,  in  a  point  of  time  which  for  me 
will  be  no  time  ;  in  a  condition  in  which  all  experience  will  for 

me  be  too  late  : 

'  Rex  tremendae  majestatis, 
Qui  salvandos  salvas  gratis, 
Salva  me,  fons  pietatis  !  !  !" 

Justus  Kerner,  in  his  Wahnsinnige  Briider,  depicts  the  over 
whelming  power  of  the  hymn  upon  minds  hardened  by  long  con-- 
tinuance  in  sin,  but  suddenly  awakened  to  reflection  by  its  thunders 
of  the  Day  of  Reckoning.  Daniel  well  compares  it  to  the  picture 
of  the  Day  of  Judgment,  which  was  the  means  of  converting  the 
King  of  the  Bulgars  to  Christianity. 

The  translations  of  our  hymn  into  modern  languages,  especially 
into  German  and  English,  have  been  numbered  by  the  hundred. 
Partly  no  doubt  this  is  due  to  the  entirely  Evangelical  type  of  its 
doctrine,  its  freedom  from  Mariolatry,  its  exaltation  of  divine 
mercy  above  human  merit,  and  its  picture  of  the  soul's  free  access 
to  -God  without  the  intervention  of  Church  and  priest.  Lisco 
(1840  and  1843)  was  able  to  specify  eighty-seven  German  versions. 
Michael  (1866)  brought  this  number  up  to  ninety,  of  which  sixty- 
two  are  both  complete  and  exact ;  and  Dr.  Philip  Schaff  says  he 
can  increase  the  list  beyond  a  hundred  without  exhausting  the 
number.  Among  the  German  translators  are  Andreas  Gryphius 
(1650),  A.  W.  Schlegel  (1802),  J.  G.  Fichte  (1813),  A.  L. 
Follen  (1819),  J.  F.  von  Meyer  (1824),  Claus  Harms  (1828),  J. 
Emmanuel  Veith  (1829),  C.  J.  C.  Bunsen  (1833),  H.  A.  Daniel 
(1839),  F.  G.  Lisco  (1840),  besides  partial  versions  by  J.  G.  von 
Herder  (1802)  and  J.  H.  von  Wessenberg  (1820). 

The  translations  into  English  begin  with  one  by  Joshua  Sylvester 
in  1621,  that  of  Richard  Crashaw  in  1646  coming  second.  There 
are  four  of  that  century  and  two  of  the  next,  the  most  notable 
being  the  Earl  of  Roscommon's  in  1717.  In  the  first  thirty  years 


THOMAS  OF  CELANO.  251 

of  the  nineteenth  century  there  are  but  four,  the  notable  being  the 
partial  version  by  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  1805,  and  Macaulay's  in 
1826.  Since  Isaac  Williams  published  his  in  1831,  there  has 
been  a  steady  succession  of  versions,  bringing  the  number  for  the 
United  Kingdom  in  this  century  up  to  fifty-one.  Of  these  the 
most  noteworthy  are  by  John  Chandler  (1837),  Henry  Alford 
(1844),  Richard  C.  Trench  (1844),  William  J.  Irons  (1848), 
Edward  Caswall  (1849),  Frederick  G.  Lee  (1851),  John  Mason 
Neale  (1851),  William  Bright  (1858),  Elizabeth  R.  Charles 
(1858),  Herbert  Kynaston  (1862),  Richard  H.  Hutton  (1868), 
Dean  Stanley  (1868),  William  C.  Dix  (1871),  and  Hamilton 
McGill  (1876). 

In  point  of  numbers  at  least  America  surpasses  England  and 
approaches  Germany.  Since  1841,  when  two  anonymous  versions 
appeared  in  this  country,  there  have  been  at  least  ninety-six  com 
plete  versions  by  American  translators,  bringing  the  total  of  enumer 
ated  versions  in  the  language  up  to  one  hundred  and  fifty- four.  Of 
American  translators  may  be  named  William  R.  Williams  (1843), 
H.  H.  Brownell  (1847),  Abraham  Coles  (1847  and  later),  Will 
iam  G.  Dix  (1852),  S.  Dry  den  Phelps  (1855),  John  A.  Dix  (1863 
and  1875),  Marshall  H.  Bright  (1866),  Edward  Slosson  (1866), 
E.  C.  Benedict  (1867),  Margaret  J.  Preston  (1868),  Philip  Schaff 
(1868),  Samuel  W.  Duffield  (1870  and  later),  John  Anketell 
(1873),  Charles  W.  Elliot  (1881),  Henry  C.  Lea  (1882),  M.  W. 
Stryker  (1883),  H.  L.  Hastings  (1886),  and  W.  S.  McKenzie 
(1887).  This  certainly,  both  by  the  length  of  the  list  and  the 
weight  of  many  of  the  names,  constitutes  a  tribute  to  the  power 
of  the  Dies  Irae  such  as  never  has  been  offered  to  any  other 
hymn  !  Only  Luther's  Ehi1  feste  Burg,  of  which  there  are  eighty- 
one  versions  in  English  alone,  can  compare  with  it* 


*  For  the  literature  of  the  Dies  Irae  consult  G.  C.  F.  Mohnike's 
"  Kirchen-  und  literarhistorischeStudien  und  Mittheilungen.  (i)  Thomas 
von  Celano,  oder  Geschichte  des  kirchlichen  Hymnus  Dies  irae,  dies 
ilia."  Stralsund,  1824.  (2)  Additions  and  corrections  to  this  in  Tzschir- 
ner's  "  Magazin  filr  Prediger,"  1826,  by  G.  W.  Fink,  who  also  wrote  the 
article  on  Thomas  of  Celano  in  Ersch  and  Gruber's  "  Encyclopadie," 
Band  XVI.,  Leipzig,  1827.  (3)  F.  G.  Lisco's  "  Dies  Irae,  Hymnus  auf 
das  Weltgericht."  Berlin,  1840.  Also  his  "  Stabat  Mater,  Hymnus  auf 
die  Schmerzen  der  Maria.  Nebst  einem  Nachtrage  zu  den  Ueberset- 


252  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Of  these  English  versions,  those  by  Rev.  W.  J.  Irons  and  Dean 
Stanley  in  England,  and  those  of  General  John  A.  Dix  and  Mr. 
Edward  Slosson  in  America,  have  enjoyed  the  most  popularity. 
They  certainly  are  excellent,  but  every  translator  seems  somewhere 
to  fail  of  complete  success.  Nor  do  those  who  have  returned 
again  and  again  to  the  attempt  seem  to  accomplish  their  own  ideal 
of  a  perfect  translation.  Dr.  Abraham  Coles,  who  has  made  some 
sixteen  or  seventeen  renderings,  is  no  better  off  than  when  he 
began.  Nor  do  I  think  my  own  sixth  version  has  carried  me  one 
inch  beyond  my  first.  The  truth  is  that  not  even  the  Pange  lingua 
gloriosi,  which  Dr.  Neale  calls  the  most  difficult  of  poems,  is  in 
this  respect  the  equal  of  this  alluring  and  baffling  hymn.  But  the 
reader,  who  has  had  no  access  to  the  hymn  except  through  the 
poorest  version,  has  the  means  to  discern  the  fact  that  in  it  a  great 
mind  utters  itself  worthily  on  one  of  the  greatest  of  themes. 

It  happened  to  me  once  to  enter  a  crowded  church,  where  pres 
ently  a  distinguished  German  divine  arose  to  speak.  Others  had 
addressed  the  audience  in  English  ;  but  he,  turning  to  his  fellow- 
countrymen,  began  to  pour  forth  a  trumpet-strain  of  lofty  elo 
quence  in  his  native  tongue.  He  spoke  of  the  "  better  valley," 
of  a  happy  and  peaceful  land.  He  seemed  to  see  its  broad  and 
gentle  river  and  to  hear  the  chiming  of  its  Sabbath  bells.  He 
peopled  the  air  with  its  lovely  citizens  and  created  about  us  the 
presence  of  its  glorious  joy.  Faintly  and  brokenly,  as  now  and 
then  he  uttered  some  familiar  words,  I  could  catch  glimpses  of 
that  lesseres  Thai,  and  its  brightness  and  beauty,  and  the  awe  of 


zungen  des  Hymnus  Dies  Irae."  Berlin,  1843.  (4)  H.  A.  Daniel's 
"  Thesaurus  Hymnologicus,"  Tomus  II.  Leipzig,  1844.  (Pp.  103-31  and 
385-87.)  (5)  Dr.  William  R.  Williams's  "  The  Conservative  Principle  in 
our  Literature."  New  York,  1843  and  1844,  and  again  in  his  "  Miscel 
lanies."  New  York,  1850,  and  Boston,  1860.  (6)  Dr.  Abraham  Coles's 
'•'  Dies  Irae  in  Thirteen  Original  Versions."  New  York,  1859.  Fifth 
edition.  1868.  (7)  Subrector  Michael's  "  De  Sequentia  Mediae  ^Etatis 
Dies  Irae,  Dies  Ilia  Dissertatio."  Zittau,  1866.  (8)  John  Edmands's 
"  Bibliography  of  the  Dies  Irae"  in  the  "  Bulletin  of  the  Mercantile 
Library."  Philadelphia,  1884.  Also  articles  by  Dr.  Philip  Schaff  in 
"  Hours  at  Home,"  VII.,  39  and  261  ;  by  R.  H.  Hutton  in  "  The  London 
Spectator"  for  1868  ;  by  Rev.  John  Anketell  in  "  The  American  Church 
Review"  for  1873  ;  and  by  Rev.  Orby  Shipley  in  "  The  Dublin  Review" 
for  1883. 


THOMAS  OF  CELANO. 


253 


its  holy  calmness  came  upon  me — upon  me,  the  stranger  and  the 
foreigner,  in  whose  speech  no  word  was  said. 

But  they  who  were  of  the  lip  and  lineage  of  the  land,  they  whose 
country  was  brought  so  near  and  whose  hopes  were  raised  on  such 
strong  and  familiar  wings — they  truly  were  moved  to  the  soul.  I 
saw  tears  in  their  eyes  ;  I  heard  their  suppressed  and  laboring 
breath  ;  I  beheld  their  eager  faces  ;  and  the  glory  of  that  land  fell 
on  them  even  as  I  gazed.  So,  though  we  cannot  here  perceive  the 
fulness  of  the  Franciscan's  hymn,  yet  do  we  discern  the  stately 
splendor  of  Messiah's  throne,  and 

"  Catch  betimes,  with  wakeful  eyes  and  clear 
Some  radiant  vista  of  the  realm  before  us." 

This  alone  can  justify  another  attempt — the  resultant  of  four 
previous  versions — to  express  something  of  the  grandeur  of  this 
majestic  hymn  : 


1.  Dies  ira,  dies  ilia 
Solvet  saeclum  in  favilla, 
Teste  David  cum  Sybilla. 

2.  Quantus  tremor  est  futurus, 
Quando  judex  est  venturus, 
Cuncta  stricte  discussurus ! 

3.  Tuba  mirum  sparget  sonum 
Per  sepulcra  regionum, 
Coget  omnes  ante  thronum. 

4.  More  stupebit  et  natura, 
Quum  resurget  creatura, 
Judicanti  responsura. 

5.  Liber  scriptus  proferetur, 
In  quo  totum  continetur, 
Unde  mundus  judicetur. 

6.  Judex  ergo  cum  sedebit, 
Quidquid  latet,  apparebit, 
Nil  inultum  remanebit. 

7.  Quid  sum  miser  tune  dicturus, 
Quern  patronum  rogaturus, 
Dum  vix  Justus  sit  securus  ? 

8.  Rex  tremendae  majestatis, 
Qui  salvandos  salvas  gratis, 
Salva  me,  fons  pietatis  ! 

9.  Recordare,  Jesu  pie, 
Quod  sum  causa  tuac  viae  ; 
Ne  me  perdas  ilia  die  ! 


1.  Day  of  wrath,  thy  fiery  morning 
Earth  consumes,  no  longer  scorning 
David's  and  the  Sibyl's  warning. 

2.  Then  what  terror  of  each  nation 
When  the  Judge  shall  take  his  station 
Strictly  trying  his  creation  ! 

3.  When  that  trumpet  tone  amazing. 
Through  the  tombs  its  message  phrasing, 
All  before  the  throne  is  raising. 

4.  Death  and  Nature  he  surprises 
Who,  a  creature,  yet  arises 
Unto  those  most  dread  assizes. 

5.  There  a  written  book  remaineth 
Whose  sure  registry  containeth 
That  which  all  the  world  arrajgneth. 

6.  Therefore  when  the  Judge  is  seated 
Each  deceit  shall  be  defeated, 
Vengeance  due  shall  then  be  meted. 

7.  With  what  answer  shall  I  meet  him, 
By  what  advocate  entreat  him, 
When  the  just  may  scarcely  greet  him  ? 

8.  King  of  majesty  appalling, 

Who  dost  save  the  elect  from  falling, 
Save  me  !  on  thy  pity  calling. 

9.  Be  thou  mindful.  Lord  most  lowljt 
That  for  me  thou  diedst  solely  ; 
Leave  me  not  to  perish  wholly .' 


254 


LATIN  HYMNS. 


10.  Quaerens  me  sedisti  lassus, 
Redemisti  cruce  passus : 
Tantus  labor  non  sit  cassus  ! 

ix.  Juste  judex  ultionis, 
Donum  fac  remissionis 
Ante  diem  rationis  ! 

12.  Ingemisco  tanquam  reus, 
Culpa  rubet  vultus  meus  : 
Supplicanti  parce,  Deus ! 

13.  Qui  Mariam  absolvisti, 
Et  latronem  exaudisti, 
Mihi  quoque  spem  dedisti 

14.  Preces  mese  non  sunt  dignae. 
Sed  tu  bonus  fac  benigne, 
Ne  perenni  cremer  igne. 

15.  Inter  oves  locum  praesta, 
Et  ab  haedis  me  sequestra, 
Statuens  in  parte  dextra. 

16.  Confutatis  maledictis, 
Flammis  acribus  addictis, 
Voca  me  cum  benedictis. 

17.  Oro  supplex  et  acclinis, 
Cor  contritum  quasi  cinis, 
Gere  curam  mei  finis. 

18.  Lachrymosa  dies  ilia. 
Qua  resurget  ex  favilla 
Judicandus  homo  reus  ; 
Huic  ergo  parce,  Deus  ! 


10.  Seeking  me  thy  love  outwore  thee, 
And  the  cross,  my  ransom,  bore  thee  ; 
Let  not  this  seem  light  before  thee  ! 

11.  Righteous  Judge  of  my  condition, 
Grant  me,  for  my  sins,  remission 
Ere  the  day  which  ends  contrition. 

12.  In  my  guilt  for  pity  yearning, 

With  my  shame  my  face  is  burning- 
Spare  me,  Lord,  to  thee  returning  ! 

13.  Mary's  sin  thou  hast  remitted 
And  the  dying  thief  acquitted  ; 
To  my  heart  this  hope  is  fitted. 

14.  Poorly  are  my  prayers  ascending 
But  do  thou,  in  mercy  bending, 
Leave  me  not  to  flames  unending  ! 

15.  Give  me  with  thy  sheep  a  station 
Far  from  goats  in  separation — 
On  the  right  my  habitation. 

16.  When  the  wicked  meet  conviction 
Doomed  to  fires  of  sharp  affliction, 
Call  me  forth  with  benediction. 

17.  Prone  and  suppliant  I  sorrow, 
Ashes  for  my  heart  I  borrow  ; 
Guard  me  on  that  awful  morrow  ! 

18.  O,  that  day  so  full  of  weeping 
When,  in  dust  no  longer  sleeping, 
Man  must  face  his  worst  behavior ! 
Therefore  spare  me,  God  and  Saviour  ! 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

THOMAS   AQUINAS   AND   JOHN   BONAVENTURA. 

IN  Southern  Italy,  about  midway  between  Rome  and  Naples, 
the  road  which  connects  these  two  cities  passes  near  the  site  of  the 
ancient  city  of  Aquinum.  It  was  a  stronghold  of  the  Volscians, 
although  not  mentioned  in  the  account  of  their  wars  with  the 
Romans.  As  a  Roman  municipality  it  rose  to  greater  importance 
than  the  other  cities  of  the  district,  and  became  the  birthplace  of 
the  satirist  Juvenal  and  other  eminent  men.  But  in  the  seventh 
century  it  was  destroyed  by  the  Lombards,  and  the  site  never  re- 
occupied.  What  were  left  of  its  inhabitants  found  another  site, 
more  capable  of  defence  in  those  wild  days,  and  built  Aquino  on  a 
mountain  slope.  It  runs  along  the  eliff  in  a  single  street,  like 
our  own  Mauch  Chunk,  and  the  remains  of  its  oldest  buildings 
show  that  its  mediaeval  architects  drew  freely  upon  still  earlier 
structures  for  their  materials. 

In  one  of  these  old  structures,  still  known  as  the  Casa  Reale  or 
royal  house,  lived  the  noble  family  who  were  the  lords  of  Aquino. 
Here  Thomas  Aquinas  was  born  in  the  year  1225,  being  one  of 
the  five  children  of  Count  Landulf  of  Aquino,  and  his  wife,  Theo 
dora  Caraccioli,  Countess  of  Teano.  The  family  was  not  a  royal 
house,  but  it  was  connected  by  intermarriage  with  the  royal  caste 
of  Europe.  It  is  said,  but  I  have  not  been  able  to  verify  the 
statement,  that  Thomas's  grandfather  had  married  a  sister  of  the 
Emperor  Barbarossa.  His  mother  was  descended  from  the 
Tancred  of  Hauteville,  whose  sons,  Roger  and  Robert  Guiscard, 
effected  the  Norman  conquest  of  the  two  Sicilies.  Sibylla,  Queen 
of  the  Tancred  who  ended  the  first  line  of  Norman  sovereigns,  is 
said  to  have  been  a  daughter  of  the  family.  But  the  real  impor 
tance  of  the  lords  of  Aquino  was  due  to  their  strategic  position  on 
the  northern  frontier  of  Apulia  and  to  their  military  spirit.  Rich 
ard  of  Aquino,  the  grandfather  of  Thomas,  was  the  mainstay  of 
Tancred' s  cause  on  the  mainland  of  Italy,  and  merited,  by  his 


256  LATIN  HYMNS. 

treachery  and  barbarity,  the  cruel  death  the  Emperor  Henry  VI. 
inflicted  on  him  after  the  final  conquest  of  the  two  Sicilies.  His 
father,  Landulf,  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  less  warlike  character  ; 
but  his  uncle,  Thomas  of  Aquinas,  who  succeeded  Richard  in  the 
countship  of  Acerra,  was  the  ablest  of  the  Ghibelline  chiefs  of 
Southern  Italy,  and  one  of  Frederic  the  Second's  most  trusted  cap 
tains.  That  emperor  enlarged  the  dominions  of  the  family,  and 
gave  ample  scope  to  their  fighting  propensities  in  his  wars  with 
the  popes.  And  Thomas's  two  brothers,  who  were  older  than  him 
self,  embraced  the  opportunity  of  a  military  life.  His  sisters 
formed  illustrious  alliances  with  the  noble  families  of  Southern 
Italy.  Pope  Honorius  III.  is  said  to  have  been  his  godfather. 

Thomas's  youth  seems  to  have  been  uneventful,  with  the  excep 
tion  of  the  calamity  by  which  he  lost  a  younger  sister,  who  was 
killed  by  lightning  while  sleeping  by  his  side.  In  his  fifth  year 
his  education  began.  Less  than  five  miles  away,  as  the  bird  flies, 
lay  the  Monte  Casino,  the  greatest  and  first  of  the  monasteries  of 
the  Benedictine  order.  Here  it  was  that  Benedict  of  Nursia  in  529 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  first  great  order  of  Western  Christendom. 
And  although  Monte  Casino  had  shared  in  the  calamity  of  Aquino 
at  the  hands  of  the  Lombards,  and  had  lain  desolate  for  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  it  had  been  rebuilt  with  new  splendor,  and  was  at 
this  time  the  grandest  ecclesiastical  establishment  outside  the  city 
of  Rome.  And  here,  in  1227,  Landulf  Sinibald,  himself  of  the 
Aquino  family,  had  become  abbot,  thus  attaining  one  of  the  high 
est  dignities  open  to  a  Churchman.  To  his  care  the  young 
Thomas  was  intrusted,  and  on  Monte  Casino  he  spent  the  next 
seven  years  of  his  life,  undergoing  the  discipline  and  receiving  the 
instruction  for  which  the  schools  of  the  Benedictine  fathers  had 
always  been  famous.  Probably  it  was  the  hope  of  the  family  of 
Aquino  that  the  young  man  would  enter  the  order  and  rise  to  the 
same  dignity  as  his  uncle,  becoming  a  prince  of  the  Church,  and 
thus  more  powerful  and  wealthy  than  any  of  his  uncles  or  brothers. 

In  1239  the  second  outbreak  of  hostilities  between  the  Pope  and 
the  Emperor  led  to  the  conversion  of  Monte  Casino  into  a  great 
fortress,  in  which  were  left  but  eight  monks  to  carry  on  the  routine 
of  monastic  services.  The  rest  found  a  home  in  other  Benedictine 
houses,  the  schools  were  suspended,  and  Thomas  returned  home. 
But  the  same  year  he  seems  to  have  proceeded  to  Naples  to  study 


THOMAS  AQUINAS  AND  JOHN  BON  A  VENTURA.    257 

in  the  university  which  Frederic  had  established  in  1224,  and 
amply  endowed  with  wealth  and  privileges,  and  had  revived  in  1 234, 
after  its  suspension  during  his  first  war  with  the  papacy.  He  had 
forbidden  his  Italian  subjects  to  leave  the  kingdom  to  attend  for 
eign  universities,  and  he  had  used  every  available  means  to  make 
them  contented  with  that  of  Naples,  one  of  these  being  the  em 
ployment  of  the  ablest  teachers  he  could  secure  in  all  the  sciences 
then  recognized  as  belonging  to  the  higher  education.  We  are 
told  that  Thomas  pursued  his  studies  two  years  in  Naples,  when 
the  influence  of  his  Dominican  teachers  led  him  to  form  the  pur 
pose  to  become  a  Dominican  friar,*  and  to  put  on  the  garb  of  a 
novice.  This  step  was  a  most  momentous  one.  Whether  his 
family  looked  forward  to  his  becoming  a  Benedictine  monk  and 
abbot,  or  contemplated  his  embracing  the  offers  of  promotion  in 
the  civil  service  of  the  kingdom,  which  Frederic  II.  had  held  out 


*  There  is  a  serious  difficulty  connected  with  the  chronology  of  his  his 
tory,  which  I  have  not  been  able  to  overcome.  Unfortunately  this 
greatest  of  Catholic  dogmatists  never  seems  to  have  inspired  enough  of 
personal  interest  in  any  disciple  or  contemporary  to  lead  to  the  prepara 
tion  of  a  biography  of  him.  So  the  earliest  in  existence  were  written 
long  after  his  death,  when  the  Neapolitans  asked  for  his  canonization. 
And  a  comparison  of  their  statements  with  those  of  contemporary  chron 
icles,  like  that  of  Richard  of  San  Germano,  does  not  inspire  confidence  in 
their  veracity. 

The  second  papal  war  broke  out  in  1239.  Both  the  orders  of  friars, 
Dominicans  and  Franciscans,  were  believed  to  be  partisans  of  the  Pope, 
and  in  1239  such  as  were  not  natives  of  the  kingdom  were  commanded  to 
leave  it.  Richard  of  San  Germano  mentions  this  order  sub  anno  1239, 
and  adds,  sub  anno  1240,  that  by  November  of  the  latter  year  all  the  Mendi 
cants,  except  two  of  each  monastery  and  those  natives  of  the  kingdom, 
had  been  expelled  by  order  of  the  Emperor.  What  Dominicans  were 
there  left  in  Naples  to  win  the  affections  of  Thomas  and  receive  him  into 
the  novitiate  ?  The  difficulty  would  be  met  by  assuming  1225  as  the  date 
of  Thomas's  birth,  and  his  stay  at  Monte  Casino  as  terminating  with  his 
tenth  year,  so  that  he  might  have  been  at  Naples  in  1235  and  formed  the 
purpose  to  enter  the  order  in  1239.  Of  ^  he  went  to  Naples  in  his  twelfth 
year  (1237),  he  might  have  become  a  Dominican  novice  after  two  years 
of  study  under  professors  of  that  order.  It  is  true  that  novices  were  not 
to  be  received  before  their  fifteenth  year  ;  but  at  any  date  after  March  of 
It39  Thomas  would  be  in  his  fifteenth  year.  It  was  March  24th  of  that 
year  that  saw  the  Emperor  excommunicated,  and  some  interval  would 
elapse  before  the  expulsion  of  the  Mendicants. 


258  LATIN  HYMNS. 

to  the  graduates  of  his  pet  university,  they  could  not  but  regard  his 
adoption  of  the  life  of  a  mendicant  friar  with  indignation  and  dis 
gust.  To  be  a  Benedictine  Paler  was  to  be  a  gentleman  and  a 
scholar,  to  have  a  share  in  the  influence,  wealth,  and  power  of  the 
order,  and  possibly  to  rise  to  the  dignity  of  the  Dux  ct  Princeps 
omnium  Abbatum  et  Religiosorum,  the  Abbot  of  Monte  Casino. 
But  the  Mendicant  orders  were  affairs  of  yesterday,  with  all  the 
rawness  if  also  the  effusive  enthusiasm  of  youth.  Francis  of  Assisi 
died  within  a  year  of  Thomas's  birth  ;  Dominic,  five  years  earlier. 
And  the  mendicant  mode  of  life  was  most  offensive  to  the  proud 
Italian  nobles,  who  must  have  recoiled  from  the  idea  that  one  of 
their  race  should  carry  the  beggar's  wallet  in  his  turn,  and  live 
always  upon  alms.  In  this  respect  the  requirements  of  the 
orders  were  far  stricter  and  more  humiliating  than  in  later  times, 
when  the  practice,  if  not  the  rule,  was  relaxed.  Those  who  were 
unaffected  by  their  enthusiasm  thought  of  the  Mendicants  as  the 
average  man  thinks  of  the  Salvation  Army,  or  thought  of  the 
Methodists  at  the  middle  of  the  last  century. 

No  notice  was  sent  to  Aquino  of  the  step  Thomas  had  taken. 
The  monks  always  had  their  share  of  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent, 
and  they  were  to  show  it  in  this  case.  But  some  of  the  vassals  of 
the  family  had  recognized  the  young  novice  under  his  Dominican 
garb  on  the  streets  of  Naples  or  in  the  church  ;  and  through  them 
the  news  reached  his  family.  Landulf  seems  to  have  been  dead  ; 
I  can  find  no  mention  of  him  later  than  1229.  But  the  Countess 
Theodora  hastened,  with  all  a  man's  energy,  to  rescue  her  son 
from  the  career  of  a  mendicant.  The  friars  learned  of  her  coming 
and  hurried  their  novice  off  to  Rome,  and  to  Rome  his  mother 
pursued  him.  To  avoid  her  he  was  sent  forward  to  France,  but 
he  had  to  pass  the  lines  of  the  imperial  army  then  engaged  in  the 
war  with  the  Lombards.  The  influence  of  the  powerful  Ghibel- 
line  family  roused  the  vigilance  of  the  imperial  authorities.  At 
Acquapendente,  on  the  frontiers  of  Tuscany,  Thomas  and  the  friars 
who  escorted  him  were  arrested,  and  the  young  noble  was  sent 
back  to  his  family  at  Aquino. 

Every  means,  foul  as  well  as  fair,  seems  to  have  been  used  to 
break  him  from  his  purpose  to  join  the  Dominicans,  while  he  re 
mained  a  prisoner  at  Aquino,  or  in  some  of  the  mountain  castles 
of  the  family.  But  Thomas  was  assured  of  his  vocation,  and  he 


THOMA  S  AQ  UINA  S  AND  JOHN  BON  A  VENTURA.    259 

had  a  fund  of  obstinacy  in  his  character  which  showed  to  good 
purpose.  It  is  said  that  the  Pope  interfered  in  his  behalf,  but 
this  is  hardly  probable,  as  the  Pope  was  waging  war  at  the  time  on 
the  Emperor  and  his  vassals,  the  Lords  of  Aquino.  At  last  the 
countess  and  her  children  abandoned  the  attempt  to  influence 
him,  and  at  least  connived  at  his  escape  to  Naples,  where  he  took 
the  vows  of  obedience,  celibacy,  and  poverty,  which  sealed  his 
connection  with  the  Dominican  order,  in  1243. 

We  have  looked  at  this  step  through  the  eyes  of  his  family,  and 
seen  its  offensiveness.  But  if  we  regard  it  more  impartially,  we 
are  impressed  with  its  wisdom.  It  was  among  the  Dominicans, 
not  the  Benedictines,  that  Thomas  could  serve  his  day  and  gener 
ation  the  best.  The  Benedictines,  in  the  new  age  which  the  era 
of  the  Crusades  opened  to  Europe,  had  fallen  behind  the  times.  It 
was  because  of  this  that  that  century  saw  the  rise  of  the  two  great 
orders  founded  by  Dominic  and  by  Francis,  and  their  rapid  growth, 
until  "  a  handful  of  corn  on  the  top  of  the  mountains"  shook  like 
the  forests  which  clothe  Lebanon.  The  Dominican  order  was  still 
in  the  blossom  of  youth  ;  the  Benedictine  had  rather  "  gone  to 
seed."  Thomas  felt  the  difference  when  he  met  the  Dominicans 
as  professors  of  theology  in  the  Studium  at  Naples.  Scholarship 
rather  than  thought  had  been  the  strong  point  with  the  Benedic 
tines.  They  would  be  apt  to  meet  the  questions  which  welled  up 
in  the  mind  of  the  eager  youth  by  an  inapposite  quotation  from 
some  Church  father,  or  to  repress  them  altogether,  as  tending  to 
vanity.  What,  indeed,  could  Abbot  Landulf  and  his  brethren  on 
the  hill-top  do  with  a  deep-eyed  boy,  who  went  from  one  to 
another  with  the  question,  "What  is  God?"  But  at  Naples, 
and  in  contact  with  the  more  lively  intellectual  life  of  his  age,  his 
acute  and  alert  intellect  found  a  satisfaction  and  an  encourage 
ment  which  the  Benedictines  could  not  give  him.  He  was  en 
couraged  to  ask  questions  instead  of  being  snubbed.  There  were 
opened  to  him  vistas  of  research  and  speculation,  which  could  not 
but  attract  a  hungry  and  active  mind  like  his.  The  Dominicans 
were  the  order  which  had  undertaken  to  face  and  answer  the  ques 
tions  of  the  age,  and  in  Thomas  these  questions  were  craving  a 
solution.  What  wonder  if  he  fell  in  love  with  the  preachers,  and 
they  with  him  !  They  discovered  what  capacity  lay  in  the  young 
noble,  and  knew  that  they  had  better  use  for  him  than  his  hum- 


260  LATIN  HYMNS. 

drum  uncle  on  the  hills  and  among  the  hawks.  And  any  scruples 
as  to  his  admission  to  the  novitiate  without  the  consent  or  against 
the  will  of  his  family  were  set  aside  by  the  belief  that  his  "  voca 
tion"  was  directly  from  God,  and  therefore  set  aside  all  merely 
human  authority. 

Having  secured  their  prize,  the  Dominicans  showed  that  they 
knew  how  to  use  it.  The  order  was,  on  one  side  of  it,  a  great 
educational  institution  to  select  and  train  young  men  to  fight  the 
intellectual  battles  of  the  Church.  The  young  Dominican  at  once 
put  on  the  yoke  of  the  "  course  of  study"  (Ordo  Siudiorum), 
which  had  been  prescribed  by  the  General  Chapter,  and  proceeded 
as  far  toward  the  highest  dignities  and  responsibilities  of  learning 
as  his  abilities  were  thought  to  warrant.  The  decision  on  this 
point  rested  with  the  General  of  the  Order,  who  at  this  time  was 
John  of  Germany,  the  fourth  in  the  succession  begun  by  Dominic. 
He  selected  for  Thomas  as  his  best  teacher,  Albert  of  Bollstadt, 
better  known  as  Albert  the  Great  (Magnus),  who  was  teaching 
in  the  monastic  school  at  Koeln  (Cologne),  and  who  had  the 
reputation  of  having  absorbed  all  that  Aristotle  knew,  and  worked 
up  his  teaching  into  a  harmony  of  Christian  theology  with  Greek 
philosophy.  According  to  his  biographers  generally,  Thomas  was 
sent  at  once  to  Koeln  in  1245,  and  accompanied  Albert  when  he 
proceeded  to  Paris  in  that  same  year  to  take  his  degree  as  Doctor 
of  Theology,  returning  with  him  in  1248.  Dr.  Heinrich  Denifle, 
however,  assigns  1248  as  the  year  when  Thomas  came  to  Koeln 
from  Italy,  and  limits  their  intercourse  as  master  and  scholar  to 
the  two  years  required  by  the  rules  of  the  order.  Whether  their 
relations  as  such  extended  over  five  years  or  were  limited  to  two, 
they  were  enough  for  the  formation  of  a  life-long  friendship  based 
on  mutual  respect  and  admiration.  Strangely  enough  the  young 
Italian  from  the  garrulous  South  was  noted  more  for  silence  than 
for  speech  among  the  students  at  Koeln.  He  had  found  a  teacher 
whom  he  thought  worth  hearing  in  silence,  and  he  heard  to  better 
purpose  than  his  associates.  Bos  mu/us,  a  dumb  ox,  they  called 
him.  Albert  foretold  that  "  the  sound  of  his  bellowing  in  doc 
trine  would  yet  go  through  the  whole  world. ' ' 

In  1250,  the  year  when  Frederic  II.  died,  Thomas  proceeded 
to  Paris  by  direction  of  the  General  of  the  Order.  In  that  mother 
university  of  Christendom  the  Dominicans  were  allowed  by  their 


THOMAS  AQUINAS  AND  JOHN  BONA  VENTURA.     261 

rule  to  receive  the  doctorate — in  that  and  no  other.  For  one  year 
the  candidate  must  hear  and  dispute  in  the  Dominican  school  on 
St  Jacques  Street ;  for  another  he  must  teach,  but  without  ascending 
the  cathedra,  from  which  authoritative  decisions  were  expected. 
But  in  Thomas's  case  these  two  years  of  his  Parisian  apprenticeship 
were  prolonged  to  seven.  The  university  quarrelled  with  the 
representatives  of  the  Mendicant  orders  just  as  Thomas  was  about 
to  take  his  degree,  and  in  the  five  years'  struggle  which  ensued  all 
ordinary  relations  and  procedures  were  suspended.  For  some 
time,  indeed,  the  university  itself  was  dissolved,  to  evade  the  bull 
of  excommunication  which  the  Pope  aimed  at  it  in  the  interest  of 
the  Mendicants. 

In  1656  William  of  St  Amour  sent  the  Pope  his  treatise  Con 
cerning  the  Dangers  of  these  Last  Times  (De  Periculis  Novis- 
simorum  Temporum),  in  which  he  pleaded  the  cause  of  the  univer 
sity  against  the  Mendicants,  and  told  some  home-truths  about  the 
greediness,  the  lawlessness,  and  the  encroachments  of  the  friars, 
but  in  an  angry  and  excited  tone,  which  harmed  his  cause.  Both 
the  assailed  orders  put  forward  their  ablest  men  to  make  answer. 
For  the  Franciscans  spoke  John  Fidanza,  better  known  as  John 
Bonaventura,  who  had  come  to  Paris  in  the  heat  of  the  conflict, 
and  had  been  delayed,  as  Thomas  was,  in  obtaining  his  degree. 

John  was  older  than  Thomas  by  several  years,  having  been  born 
in  1 22 1.  He  had  been  recovered  from  an  apparently  mortal  ill 
ness  through  the  prayers  of  Francis  of  Assisi  in  his  third  year,  and 
then  received  the  name  Bonaventura  from  the  good  man's  own 
lips.  He  entered  the  order  in  his  twenty-second  year,  and 
studied  in  Paris  under  Alexander  of  Hales  and  John  of  Rochelle. 
The  devout  humility  of  the  man,  and  his  purity  of  character,  pro 
duced  as  deep  an  impression  upon  his  teachers  as  Thomas  had 
produced  upon  his  by  the  force  and  keenness  of  his  intellect. 
Alexander  used  to  say  that  "  in  Brother  Bonaventura  Adam  seems 
not  to  have  sinned."  John  was  probably  the  most  perfect  ex 
emplar  of  the  spirit  of  Francis  of  Assisi  that  was  to  be  seen  in  the 
second  generation  of  the  order.  Not  by  intellectual  force,  but  by 
humble  ministry  to  the  commonest  human  needs,  by  the  infec 
tion  of  an  all-embracing  love  and  the  close  imitation  of  our  Lord's 
humanity,  he  would  save  the  world  from  its  wanderings.  Thomas 
and  he  were  the  best  possible  representatives  of  their  respective 


262  L ATI 'N  HYMNS. 

orders,  and  it  speaks  well  for  both  men  that  their  differences  only 
bound  them  more  intimately  in  friendship.  Each  reverenced 
what  was  strongest  in  the  other.  When  Thomas  asked  to  see  the 
books  by  whose  help  John  had  acquired  his  Christian  erudition, 
the  Franciscan  pointed  him  to  a  crucifix,  and  said  that  from  that 
he  had  learned  all  that  he  ever  knew. 

Their  answers  to  William  of  St.  Amour  reflect  the  character  of 
the  men.  Bonaventura  defended  the  mendicant  form  of  the  mo 
nastic  life  as  an  ideal ;  but  without  admitting  the  truth  of  the  dark 
picture  William  had  drawn,  he  conceded  that  serious  abuses  had 
crept  in,  and  that  already  there  was  need  of  a  reformation  unless 
matters  were  to  be  let  grow  worse.  Thomas  makes  no  concessions 
whatever.  He  entitles  his  book  Against  those  who  Assail  the 
Worship  of  God  and  the  Monastic  Life  (Contra  Impugnantes  Dei 
Culhim  et  Religionem).  William  and  all  who  hold  with  him  are 
the  enemies  of  God  and  of  His  Church.  The  critics  of  the  Mendi 
cant  rule  are  standing  in  the  way  of  the  forces  which  are  sent  of 
God  to  win  'the  world  to  Christ.  The  monk,  and  especially  the 
mendicant  friar,  is  the  only  thorough  Christian  who  keeps  to  the 
"  counsels  of  perfection"  our  Lord  gave  His  disciples,  as  well  as  to 
the  precepts  of  obedience  obligatory  upon  all.  William  uttered 
false  and  damnable  doctrine  when  he  tried  to  limit  them  to  a 
purely  ascetic  life.  They  have  the  right  to  teach  as  well  as  to  pray 
and  mourn,  and  the  Pope  has  power  to  open  to  them  the  doors 
of  every  secular  college  by  his  mandate. 

The  controversy  was  brought  to  an  end  in  1257,  when  Pope 
Alexander  IV.  at  Anagni  formally  condemned  the  book  of  William 
of  St.  Amour,  and  bound  the  plenipotentiaries  of  the  university  by 
an  oath  to  admit  the  Mendicants  to  their  former  footing  in  the 
university.  And  to  signalize  the  victory  of  the  friars,  Thomas  and 
Bonaventura  were  admitted  to  the  doctorate  on  the  same  day, 
October  23d,  1257. 

From  the  masters  the  head  of  the  school  in  St.  Jacques  Street 
was  chosen  by  the  General  of  the  Order,  and  naturally  the  choice 
fell  on  Thomas.  Usually  the  place  was  held  for  a  year  only,  and 
its  occupant  then  transferred  to  some  other  field  of  labor.  Thomas 
held  it  for  four  years,  lecturing,  preaching  at  least  every  Lent  in 
the  adjacent  church,  and  exercising  the  discipline  of  the  order 
over  its  students.  The  number  who  heard  his  lectures  must  have 


THOMAS  AQUINAS  AND  JOHN  BONA  VENTURA.    263 

been  great.  The  school  at  Paris,  unlike  that  at  Koeln,  being  a 
branch  of  the  university,  its  lectures  were  open  to  all  comers,  and 
the  renown  of  the  Italian  who  had  been  more  than  a  match  for 
the  ablest  of  the  secular  doctors  would  draw  hearers.  And  those 
who  came  once,  if  they  had  any  love  for  the  play  of  pure  intelli 
gence  and  the  fearless  handling  of  great  questions,  would  come 
again.  Thomas,  with  all  his  orthodoxy,  was  a  pretty  thorough 
rationalist.  He  had  full  faith  in  the  capacity  of  the  human  under 
standing  to  deal  fruitfully  and  safely  with  the  deepest  mysteries. 
If  his  conclusions  always  are  with  the  Church,  it  is  not  because  he 
has  shrunk  from  attending  to,  and  even  suggesting,  what  might 
be  said  against  the  doctrine  under  consideration.  It  is  because  he 
has  satisfied  himself  that  the  balance  of  logical  argument,  after  all 
objections  have  been  weighed,  is  on  the  side  of  orthodoxy.  In 
this  respect  his  writings  represent  the  highest  point  reached  by  the 
rationalistic  tendency  in  the  Middle  Ages,  just  as  Abelard  repre 
sents  its  initiation.  We  find  Duns  Scotus,  his  great  Franciscan 
rival,  shrinking  from  his  rationalism,  and  removing  some  of  the 
mysteries  of  theology  out  of  the  field  of  logical  discussion. 

Of  course,  his  most  devoted  hearers  were  the  young  men  of  the 
order.  Of  these  some  ninety  were  sent  up  every  year  from  the 
schools  in  the  provinces  outside  France  ;  and  in  addition  to  these 
picked  men,  who  came  for  the  master's  degree,  Paris  had  the 
training  of  all  the  students  of  Northern  France.  Some  of  the 
former  were  from  Spain,  where  the  order  was  engaged  in  combat 
ting  the  Mohammedan  doctors.  Their  needs  drew  Thomas'  s  atten 
tion  to  the  subject  of  his  first  systematic  work,  the  Summa  contra 
Gentiles.  Thomas  puts  himself  upon  the  level  of  one  who  has  no 
Christian  convictions,  but  argues  simply  from  principles  of  phil 
osophic  truth  and  of  natural  religion  accepted  by  both  parties. 
Besides  these  and  other  literary  labors  he  attended  the  annual  Gen 
eral  Chapters  of  his  order  at  Valenciennes  in  1259,  where  he  and 
Albrechtdrew  up  the  new  order  of  studies  for  the  young  Dominicans. 

In  1261  Michael  Palaeologus,  the  Greek  Emperor  of  Nicea, 
conquered  Constantinople,  and  thus  put  an  end  to  the  Latin 
Empire  established  by  the  Fourth  Crusade.  But  the  wily  Greek 
feared  a  general  movement  in  Latin  Christendom  to  recover  the 
city  from  him,  and  to  gain  time  by  diplomacy  he  opened  negotia 
tions  for  the  reconciliation  of  Eastern  and  Western  Christendom 


264  LATIN  HYMNS. 

with  Urban  IV.,  then  newly  chosen  to  the  papacy.  The  Pope 
summoned  Thomas  Aquinas  from  Paris  to  Rome,  to  aid  in  these 
negotiations  by  his  erudition  and  acuteness.  The  subject  was  one 
into  which  his  previous  studies  had  not  conducted  him,  but  a 
scholastic  philosopher  must  be  prepared  to  write  on  any  topic. 
De  omni  scibili  was  his  scope.  So  Thomas  wrote  his  Treatise 
against  the  Errors  of  the  Greeks  (Opusculum  contra  Err  ores 
Graecorum)  by  the  papal  order.  In  its  preparation  he  became  at 
once  the  victim  and  the  instrument  of  one  of  the  most  memorable 
forgeries  in  ecclesiastical  literature.  The  Dominicans  had  followed 
the  Latin  Empire  into  the  East,  but  found  themselves  at  a  loss  for 
authorities  to  prove  to  the  Greeks  that  the  autocratic  papacy  was 
a  venerable,  much  less  a  primitive  institution,  of  the  Christian 
Church.  One  of  them  conceived  the  bright  thought  of  manufac 
turing  a  supply.  So  he  sent  to  Urban  IV.  a  long  catena  of  quota 
tions  from  the  Greek  fathers,  especially  the  two  Cyrils  and  the 
Council  of  Chalcedon,  in  which  the  papal  authority  and  infallibility 
were  set  forth  with  a  boldness  never  used  even  in  the  West.  The 
Pope  fully  believed  in  their  genuineness  and  handed  them  over  to 
Thomas,  who  incorporated  many  of  them  into  his  opusculum, 
besides  using  them  in  his  greater  work.  He  knew  too  much 
about  the  teachings  of  the  Greek  fathers  not  to  be  staggered  by  the 
quotations  as  to  the  Procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit  from  the  Father 
and  the  Son,  and  he  expressed  his  doubts  in  a  letter  to  Urban. 
But  he  was  not  staggered  by  the  forger's  showing  that  the  Greeks 
accepted  the  universal  jurisdiction  and  infallible  authority  of  the 
papacy.  In  this  way  the  notion  of  a  universal  episcopate  and  an 
infallibility  in  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  from  being  the  audacious 
whim  of  a  few  canonists,  passed  into  the  dogmatic  theology  of  the 
Church,  and  came  to  be  made  an  article  of  faith  in  our  own  time. 
(See  Acton-Dollinger-Huber's  book,  Janus,  or  the  Pope  and  the 
Council,  chap,  iii.,  section  18.) 

Urban  IV.  having  brought  Thomas  to  Italy,  Clemens  IV.  kept 
him  there  as  long  as  he  lived,  making  him  a  professor  in  the  uni 
versity  established  by  Innocent  IV.  within  the  Roman  Curia,  and  as 
such  carried  him  about  from  city  to  city  as  the  Papal  Court  removed, 
and  had  him  lecture  on  theology  wherever  the  Court  was  staying. 
He  also  set  him  to  the  work  of  writing  commentaries  on  part  of 
the  Scripture  :  Job,  the  Psalms,  Canticles,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and 


THOMAS  AQUINAS  AND  JOHN  BONA  VENTURA.     265 

Paul's  Epistles,  besides  his  catena  of  comments  on  the  Gospels 
gathered  from  the  Latin  fathers.  Most  important  of  all  for  our 
purposes,  he  asked  him  to  prepare  the  service  for  Corpus  Christi 
Day — a  festival  established  in  1264.  It  was  for  this  that  Thomas 
wrote  four  of  the  hymns  which  have  given  him  his  place  in 
the  annals  of  hymnology,  and  those  are  his  finest.  And  it  is 
said  that  he  also  began  his  Summa  in  these  years,  but  that  I 
doubt.  But  in  1269  Clemens  died,  and  it  was  two  years  before 
another  Pope  was  elected.  Thomas  took  the  opportunity  to 
escape  out  of  the  throng  and  noise  of  the  Curia,  and  made  his  way 
back  to  France  and  to  his  old  manner  of  life.  He  came  back  to 
Paris  and  lectured  in  St.  Jacques  Street,  but  not  as  the  head  of  the 
school.  At  Paris  he  now  found  critics  as  well  as  admirers.  His 
doctrine  that  individuality  is  dependent  upon  matter  was  censured 
as  involving  a  denial  of  immortality,  and  in  1269  he  wrote  a 
treatise,  Contra  Averroistas,  to  show  that  this  was  not  a  necessary 
or  even  a  fair  inference.  In  the  same  year  we  find  him  in  London 
attending  a  Chapter  General  of  his  order. 

In  1271  the  vacancy  in  the  papacy  ended  with  the  selection  of 
Gregory  X. ,  one  of  the  best  of  the  popes.  Thomas  was  recalled 
to  Italy  and  offered  the  Archbishopric  of  Naples,  doubtless  at  the 
suggestion  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  whose  hands  were  red  with  the 
blood  of  the  young  Conradin.  Thomas  wisely  declined  it,  and 
when,  in  1272,  he  agreed  to  go  to  Naples  as  a  teacher  of  theology, 
it  was  with  the  reservation  that  this  should  not  bring  him  into  close 
relations  with  the  Court.  Enough  of  his  Ghibelline  traditions 
clung  to  him  to  make  him  abhor  the  murderer  of  his  kinsman. 
So  in  Naples  he  taught,  and  wrote  at  his  Summa,  and  prayed  and 
saw  visions — his  biographers  say — until  one  day  the  Pope  sum 
moned  him  to  a  General  Council  at  Lyons,  with  the  view  of  pro 
claiming  a  new  crusade.  He  obeyed  the  summons,  but  when  he 
reached  the  Cistercian  monastery  of  Fossa  Nuova,  on  the  hills  above 
the  Pontine  Marshes,  below  Rome,  he  fell  ill  and  died,  March  7th, 
1 274.  Of  course  the  Italians  knew  he  was  poisoned,  and  even  Dante 
countenances  the  report.  The  Pontine  Marshes  in  spring  are  so 
wholesome  that  no  other  hypothesis  could  account  for  his  death  ! 
His  friend  Bonaventura  reached  Lyons,  but  died  during  the  sessions 
of  the  council.  His  earlier  friend  and  master,  Albert  the  Great,  al 
though  his  senior  by  thirty  years,  outlived  him  by  six,  dying  in  1 280. 


266  LA  TIN  HYMNS. 

The  position  of  Thomas  Aquinas  in  history  is  determined  by 
the  fact  that  he  is  the  greatest  of  the  scholastic  philosophers. 
What  his  master  and  other  earlier  thinkers  had  attempted,  he  more 
nearly  did  than  ever  has  been  done  by  any  one  else.  He  took 
the  two  great  bodies  of  knowledge,  secular  and  sacred,  and  fused 
them  into  a  system  more  nearly  consistent  with  itself  than  any 
other.  On  the  one  side  was  the  encylopaedic  philosophy  of  Aris 
totle,  and  the  parallel  but  less  perfect  tradition  of  Platonic  specula 
tion  ;  on  the  other  the  Scriptures,  the  dogmatic  decisions  of  the 
councils  and  popes,  and  the  teachings  of  the  recognized  authorities 
among  the  ecclesiastical  writers,  especially  as  these  had  been  sum 
marized  by  Peter  Lombard.  To  blend  these  into  one  great  system 
of  theology,  to  subsidize  the  weapons  of  the  Greek  philosophy  in 
defence  of  Christian  truth,  and  to  draw  the  line  with  accuracy 
between  what  reason  can  prove  and  faith  accepts  without  proof — 
this  was  what  he  undertook  in  the  Summa.  And  never  was  a 
more  acute  intellect  employed  on  the  great  task  of  reconciling  faith 
with  reason.  If  he  failed,  it  is  not  because  he  shrank  from  anti 
cipating  any  and  every  kind  of  objection  to  the  truths  he  was  de 
fending  ;  his  works  are  a  perfect  storehouse  of  such  objections. 
If  he  failed,  it  was  not  from  any  want  of  confidence  in  the  powers 
of  the  human  mind  to  deal  with  the  highest  subjects  of  thought. 
No  modern  rationalist  ever  surpassed  him  in  that  respect.  He 
failed  because  neither  then  nor  now  do  the  materials  exist  for  such 
a  work,  and  because  his  truths  lost  and  his  errors  gained  force  by 
being  worked  into  a  system. 

It  would  take  a  whole  chapter  even  to  describe  the  Summa. 
Of  its  three  parts,  the  first,  concerning  God,  and  the  second  con 
cerning  man,  were  completed  in  the  four  years  he  gave  to  the 
work.  In  the  third,  which  treats  of  the  God-Man,  he  got  no 
farther  than  the  ninetieth  question,  and  the  discussion  was  com 
pleted  by  extracts  from  his  commentary  on  Peter  Lombard.  But 
the  completed  part  contains  nearly  two  million  Latin  words,  or  with 
the  supplement,  two  million  one  hundred  thousand.  It  is  six 
times  as  large  as  Calvin's  Instituiio,  or  four  times  as  large  as  the 
Latin  Bible  !  And  the  Summa  fills  only  two  of  the  seventeen 
folios  of  his  works,  all  written  within  the  space  of  twenty-six  years 
by  a  man  actively  engaged  in  teaching,  lecturing,  and  advising 
popes  and  princes. 


THOMA  S  AQ  UINA  S  AND  JOHN  BON  A  VENTURA.    267 

That  so  much  of  the  formative  period  of  his  life  was  spent  in  a 
controversy,  in  which  he  was  the  applauded  spokesman  of  a  party 
whose  cause  he  regarded  as  the  cause  of  God,  could  not  but  affect 
his  intellectual  character.  Professor  Maurice  thinks  the  delay  in 
obtaining  the  master's  degree  worked  in  the  same  direction.  The 
master  in  those  days  was  expected  to  pronounce  decisions  ;  those 
who  had  not  attained  that  rank  were  occupied  in  disputations 
only.  "  Thus  our  author  was  a  trained  arguer, "  and  "the  old 
habits  remained  with  him  when  his  decisions  were  most  accepted 
as  authorities.  From  first  to  last  he  was  thinking  of  all  that  could 
be  said  on  both  sides  of  the  question  he  was  discussing."  I 
believe  that  he  was  conscious  of  the  narrowing  and  dwarfing  ten 
dency  of  this  habit  of  mind,  even  though  he  did  not  detect  the 
source  of  the  evil.  We  read  of  his  seeking  to  prepare  himself  for 
his  work  by  humble  devotion.  But  to  the  last  line  of  his  last 
work  the  controversial  habit  and  attitude  of  mind  clings  to  him. 
It  is  only  in  his  catechetical  expositions,  written  before  he  left 
Koeln  for  Paris,  that  you  find  a  different  atmosphere,  and  escape 
the  heretic-crushing  Aristotelian  dialectic  of  the  scholastic  dis 
putant. 

Even  in  his  few  hymns,  which  constitute  his  title  to  rank  among 
the  sacred  poets,  he  is  the  great  scholastic  doctor,  with  his  eye  on 
the  heresies  which  may  distract  the  believer.  He  writes  with  the 
full  panoply  under  his  singing  robes.  All  his  hymns  are  con 
cerned  with  the  greatest  of  the  Christian  sacraments.  It  was  in 
1215,  a  year  before  the  confirmation  of  the  Dominican  Order,  and 
twelve  years  before  Thomas  was  born,  that  the  fourth  Lateran 
Council  made  the  transubstantiation  of  the  elements  into  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ  an  article  of  faith.  But  a  Belgian  ecstatic, 
Juliana  of  Liege,  had  a  vision  which  called  for  a  special  annual 
festival  in  honor  of  the  mystery.  Urban  IV.  complied  with 
this  request  in  1261,  by  requiring  that  the  Thursday  next  after 
Trinity  Sunday  should  be  observed  as  Corpus  Christi  Day.  This 
involved  the  preparation  of  an  additional  services  for  the  Missal 
and  Breviary,  with  suitable  prayers  and  hymns,  and  the  work  was 
laid  upon  Thomas.  For  the  Missal  he  wrote  the  sequence 

Lauda,  Sion,  Salvatorem  ; 
and  for  the  Breviary  the  three  hymns 


268  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Pange,  lingua,  gloriosi  Corporis  mysterium, 
Sacris  solemniis  juncia  sint  gaudia, 
and 

Verbum  supermini  prodiens,  Nee  Patris. 

The  Paris  Breviary  connects  a  fifth  hymn  of  his  with  the  same 
festival,  the 

Adoro  Te  devote,  lalens  Deltas, 

assigning  it  for  late  (serotinas)  services  in  the  octave  of  Corpus 
Christi.  So  Newman  ;  but  Daniel  declares  he  finds  it  in  none  of 
the  breviaries  of  modern  use,  and  in  the  missals  only  as  a  part  of 
the  priest's  private  preparation  for  saying  Mass.  Even  this  rank 
has  not  been  attained  by  the  sixth  hymn  ascribed  to  him,  the 
beautiful 

O  Esca  viatorum, 

which  Dr.  Ray  Palmer  has  made  familiar  to  American  worshippers 
by  his  exquisite  version,  first  published  in  the  Andover  Sabbath 

Hymn-Book  : 

O  Bread  to  pilgrims  given. 

Moll  denies  that  Thomas  wrote  this,  and  says  it  is  by  a  Jesuit 
poet,  which  is  most  probable.  March  calls  it  "a  happy  echo" 
of  the  undisputed  hymns  of  Thomas  Aquinas.  But  the  echo  is 
softened  ;  the  hymn  is  less  masculine.  Lymphafons  alone  would 
serve  as  a  note  to  show  that  Aquinas  never  wrote  it. 

It  has  been  said  by  Dr.  Neale  that  the 

Pange,  lingua,  gloriosi 

"  contests  the  second  place  among  those  of  the  Western  Church, 
with  the  Vexilla  Regis,  the  Stabat  Mater,  the  Jesu  dulcis  memoria, 
the  Ad  Regias  Agni  Dopes,  the  Ad  Supernam,  and  one  or  two 
others,  leaving  the  Dies  Irae  in  its  unapproachable  glory. "  But 
this  judgment  is  the  prejudiced  one  of  a  High  Churchman,  suffi 
ciently  in  sympathy  with  the  Roman  doctrine  of  the  sacraments 
to  relish  keenly  Thomas's  concise  and  vigorous  statement  of  that 
doctrine,  and  to  mistake  the  relish  for  critical  appreciation  of  the 
poetry.  Dr.  Neale  even  praises  Thomas's  treatise  On  the  Venerable 
Sacrament  of  the  Altar  as  the  finest  devotional  treatise  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  finer  therefore  than  the  Imitation  itself !  A  calmer 


THOMAS  AQUINAS  AND  JOHN  BON  A  VENTURA.    269 

estimate  will  put  the  hymn  decidedly  below  Bernard's  exquisite 
Jesu  dulcia  memoria,  or  the  Veni,  Creator  Spiriius  of  Rabanus 
Maurus,  or  the  Veni,  Sancte  Spiritus  of  Hermann  Contractus.  It 
is  true  that  it  excels  all  these  in  its  peculiar  qualities,  its  logical 
neatness,  dogmatic  precision,  and  force  of  almost  argumentative 
statement ;  but  these  qualities  are  not  poetical.  In  this  respect  it 
is  not  altogether  unlike  Toplady's  "  Rock  of  Ages,"  a  hymn  in 
which  the  intellect  has  cut  a  channel  for  the  emotions  to  flow. 
That  was  written  as  a  tail -piece  to  a  controversial  article  in  which 
Toplady  discussed  John  Wesley's  doctrines  in  the  matter  of  faith 
and  works,  and  is  a  terse  statement  of  theological  discriminations 
on  that  point. 

The  Lauda,  Sion,  Salvalorem,  as  it  is  a  much  longer  hymn, 
gives  more  scope  for  the  exposition  of  the  Roman  doctrine.  For 
this  reason  Martin  Luther  abhorred  it,  probably  also  because  he 
had  no  good  opinion  of  Thomas  himself.  He  accuses  him  of 
perverting  the  Scripture  in  this  hymn,  "  as  though  he  were  the 
worst  enemy  of  God,  or  else  an  idiot. "  But  this  harsh  judgment 
did  not  succeed  in  expelling  the  hymn  from  the  use  of  the  Lutheran 
churches,  and  since  the  Oxford  revival  it  has  found  its  way  into 
other  Protestant  churches.  But  the  sixth,  seventh  and  eighth 
verses  express  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  so  distinctly,  that 
one  must  have  gone  as  far  as  Dr.  Pusey,  who  avowed  that  he  held 
"all  Roman  doctrine,"  before  using  their  words  in  any  but  a 
non-natural  sense.  In  the  fine  version  made  by  Dr.  A.  R. 
Thompson,  first  published  in  the  Sunday-School  Times  in  1883, 
and  included  in  Dr.  Robinson's  Laitdes  Domini,  only  half  the 
hymn  is  given,  those  verses  being  taken  which  deflect  least  from 
the  general  current  of  Christian  thought  about  the  sacrament.  By 
the  author's  kind  permission,  we  give  it  here  with  his  latest  re 
vision  : 

"  Sion,  to  thy  Saviour  singing, 

To  thy  Prince  and  Shepherd  bringing 
Sweetest  hymns  of  love  and  praise, 

Thou  wilt  never  reach  the  measure 

Of  his  worth,  by  all  the  treasure 
Of  thy  most  ecstatic  lays. 

"  Of  all  wonders  that  can  thrill  thee, 
And  with  adoration  fill  thee, 
What  than  this  can  greater  be, 


270  LATIN  HYMNS. 

That  himself  to  thee  he  giveth  ? — 
He  that  eateth,  ever  liveth — 
For  the  bread  of  life  is  he. 

"  Fill  thy  lips  to  overflowing 
With  sweet  praise,  his  mercy  showing, 

Who  this  heavenly  table  spread. 
On  this  day  so  glad  and  holy, 
To  each  longing  spirit  lowly 

Giveth  he  the  living  Bread. 

"  Here  the  King  hath  spread  his  table, 
Whereon  eyes  of  faith  are  able 

Christ  our  Passover  to  trace. 
Shadows  of  the  law  are  going, 
Light  and  life  and  truth  inflowing, 

Night  to  day  is  giving  place. 
***** 

V  Lo,  this  angels'  food  descending 
Heavenly  love  is  hither  sending, 

Hungry  lips  on  earth  to  feed  ! 
So  the  paschal  lamb  was  given, 
So  the  manna  came  from  heaven, 

Isaac  was  his  type  indeed. 

"  O  good  Shepherd,  Bread  life-giving, 
Us,  thy  grace  and  life  receiving, 

Feed  and  shelter  evermore  ! 
Thou  on  earth  our  weakness  guiding, 
We  in  heaven  with  thee  abiding, 

With  all  saints  will  thee  adore." 

Thomas's  Franciscan  friend,  John  Fidenza,  better  known  by  his 
nickname  of  John  Bonaventura,  was  a  hymn-writer  also,  but  he 
did  a  good  many  other  things  better.  To  many  Protestants  his 
name  has  been  made  offensive  through  its  association  with  the 
Psalter  of  Our  Lady,  a  travesty  of  the  Book  of  Psalms,  with  which 
he  had  nothing  to  do,  and  which  was  made  in  a  later  century. 
Indeed,  as  Martin  Chemnitz  pointed  out  three  centuries  ago,  Bona 
ventura  protested  against  the  excessive  reverence  for  the  Virgin, 
which  had  already  become  common,  as  likely  to  lead  to  idolatry. 
That  he  was  called  the  Seraphic  Doctor  shows  that  men  felt  in 
him  a  warmth  of  heart  and  a  tenderness  of  devotion,  which  they 
missed  in  his  greater  contemporary,  Thomas  Aquinas,  the  Angeli- 


THOMAS  AQUINAS  AND  JOHN  BONA  VENTURA.    271 

cal  Doctor.  Indeed  he  was  the  incarnation  of  the  Franciscan 
spirit  of  love  and  helpfulness,  as  Thomas  of  the  Dominican  spirit 
of  theological  research  and  orthodox  defence.  Yet  Bonaventura's 
Breuiloquium  has  been  praised  by  good  judges  as  the  best  com- 
pend  of  Christian  doctrine  that  the  Middle  Ages  have  left  us. 

Bonaventura's  Latin  poems  are  rather  devout  meditations  than 
hymns.  They  are  not  the  voice  of  the  Christian  congregation  in 
song,  but  of  the  monk  meditating  before  his  crucifix.  To  him  is 
sometimes  ascribed  the  Christmas  hymn, 

Adeste  fideles, 
but  not  on  sufficient  authority.      His  best  known  hymns  are  the 

Christum  Ducem,  qui per  crucem, 
and 

Recordare  sanctae  cruets, 

of  which  latter  we  have  English  versions  by  Dr.  Henry  Harbaugh, 
Dr.  J.  W.  Alexander,  and  E.  C.  Benedict.  Five  other  hymns 
are  ascribed  to  him  in  the  collections.  They  all  have  the  Fran 
ciscan  note  ;  they  turn  on  our  Lord's  human  sympathy  and  suffer 
ings.  This  explains  the  ascription  to  him  of  a  long  hymn  on  the 
members  of  our  Lord's  body  as  affected  by  the  passion,  which  is 
found  in  Mone  (I.,  171-74),  but  which  is  more  frequently  and 
quite  as  erroneously  ascribed  to  Bernard  of  Clairvaux.  It  is  not 
worthy  of  either,  although  Mone  thinks  the  ascription  to  Bona- 
ventura  "worthy  of  attention."  The  hyrnn  furnishes  the  point 
of  contact  of  the  Latin  hymnology  with  that  of  the  later  Mora- 
vians,  the  Franciscans  of  Protestantism. 

So  we  leave  the  two  great  scholars,  thinkers,  doctors,  and  poets, 
each  representing  one  of  the  two  chief  streams  of  spiritual  influ 
ence  in  the  Church  of  the  thirteenth  century.  "  They  were  lovely 
and  pleasant  in  their  lives,  and  in  death  they  were  not  divided." 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

JACOPONUS    AND    THE    "  STABAT    MATER." 

JACOPONUS,  known  to  us  sometimes  as  Jacobus  de  Benedictis, 
and  sometimes  as  Jacopo  di  Benedetto,  or  as  Giacopone  da  Todi 
from  his  Italian  birthplace,  is  a  most  quaint  and  singular  singer. 
The  name  Jacoponus  is  a  mere  title  of  reproach,  and  signifies  either 
"  Big  James"  or  "  Silly  James."  It  was  called  after  him  on  the 
street  and  he  adopted  it  in  a  spirit  of  humility  and  as  a  badge  of 
self  abnegation.  The  man  himself  was  an  Italian  jurist  and  noble 
man,  who  lived  in  the  thirteenth  century.  He  led  a  wild  life,  lost 
his  property,  and  eventually  regained  it  by  industry  and  ability. 
Evidently  he  neither  cared  nor  scrupled  about  his  ways  of  making 
money.  A  crisis  came  in  his  life  in  consequence  of  his  wife's 
sudden  death.  She  was  killed  at  the  city  games  of  Todi  in  the 
year  of  grace  1268,  where  with  other  women  she  had  been  watch 
ing  the  sports  from  a  scaffold  of  wood.  It  was  insecure  and  fell, 
killing  her  instantly.  Poor  Benedetto,  on  hurrying  to  the  spot, 
found  that  beneath  her  garments  she  had  been  wearing  a  hair 
girdle  next  to  the  skin — according  to  the  harsh  custom  of  the 
time — and  he  was  deeply  affected  by  this  evidence  of  her  anxiety 
to  please  God.  In  those  days  such  an  action  spoke  volumes  for 
the  victim's  piety,  and  no  one  was  more  open  to  conviction  than 
this  erratic,  sensitive,  and  brilliant  man. 

But  it  would  seem  that  for  a  long  time  he  struggled  against  his 
feelings,  since  we  have  a  record  that  by  1298  he  had  been  a  re 
ligious  person  about  twenty  years.  Indeed,  there  is  a  story  that 
he  was  not  received  at  once  by  the  Minorites,  and  that  he  finally 
produced  certain  poems  before  they  grew  satisfied  to  take  him  in. 
However,  when  he  was  fairly  within  their  walls  he  outdid  all  the 
other  Franciscans  in  austerity.  He  had  given  up  his  position  as 
Doctor  of  Laws  and  had  surrendered  his  property  ;  now  it  would 


JACOPONUS  AND    THE    "  STABA  7*  MA  TEJR."        273 

appear  that  he  was  determined  to  advance  beyond  the  rest  in 
ascetic  devotion.  His  penances  and  prayers  were  greatly  in  ex 
cess  of  prescribed  rules,  and  he  must  have  proved  as  sore  a  trial 
to  any  easy-going  brother,  as  Simeon  Stylites  was  when  he  too 
led  the  whole  convent  to  denounce  his  ascetic  habits.  There  is 
small  doubt  that  the  brain  of  Jacoponus  was  decidedly  off  its 
balance,  even  in  these  earliest  days,  and  his  subsequent  conduct 
gave  full  evidence  of  his  insanity.  Still,  we  find  in  this  self-abase 
ment  of  his  nothing  that  looks  like  pride  or  egotism.  Where 
others  display  a  complacency  which  is  very  Pharisaic,  he  only 
shows  the  monomania  of  a  gifted  soul.  Some  of  his  expressions 
are  remarkable  for  their  spiritual  depth  and  power.  Thus  when 
he  was  pressed  to  explain  how  a  Christian  can  be  sure  that  he 
loves  God,  he  replied,  "  I  have  the  sign  of  charity  ;  if  I  ask  God 
for  something,  and  He  refuses  me,  I  love  Him  notwithstanding  ; 
and  when  He  opposes  me  I  love  Him  twice  as  much."  "  I 
would,"  he  says,  "for  the  love  of  Christ,  suffer  with  a  perfect 
resignation  all  the  toils  of  this  life,  every  grief,  anguish,  pain, 
which  word  can  express  or  thought  conceive.  I  would  also  readily 
consent  that,  on  leaving  life,  the  demons  should  bear  my  soul 
into  the  place  of  tortures,  there  to  endure  all  the  torments  due  to 
my  sins  ;  to  those  of  the  just  who  suffer  in  purgatory,  and  even  of 
the  reprobates  and  demons  if  this  could  be  ;  and  that  until  the 
day  of  the  last  judgment,  and  longer  still,  according  to  the  good 
pleasure  of  the  Divine  Majesty.  And,  above  all,  it  would  be  to 
me  a  great  pleasure  and  supreme  satisfaction  that  all  those  for  whom 
I  should  have  suffered  should  enter  heaven  before  me,  and,  finally, 
if  I  came  after  them  that  all  should  agree  to  declare  to  me  that 
they  owe  me  nothing."  Surely  no  modern  theologian  has  ever 
stated  the  doctrine  of  "  self-emptiness"  in  any  shape  which  at  all 
compares  with  this  ! 

Nor  was  he  deficient  in  wit.  "  I  enjoy  the  realm  of  France," 
he  once  said,  "  more  than  does  the  King  of  France  ;  for  I  take 
part  in  all  the  happiness  that  comes  to  him  and  I  haven't  the  care 
of  his  business."  At  another  time  he  entered  the  market-place 
on  all  fours  naked,  a  saddle  on  his  back  and  a  bit  between  his  teeth, 
for  what  symbolic  purpose  no  one  has  ever  explained.  Again, 
he  literally  tarred  and  feathered  himself,  covering  his  body  with  a 
sticky  oil  and  then  rolling  in  feathers  of  various  colors  and  kinds. 


274  LATIN  HYMNS. 

In  this  elegant  wedding  attire  he  made  his  appearance  at  his 
brother's  house  to  honor  the  marriage  of  his  niece.  The  guests, 
as  might  be  expected,  departed  in  confusion  and  disgust.  But  to 
all  remonstrances  upon  his  conduct  he  retorted,  "  My  brother 
thinks  to  illumine  our  name  by  his  magnificence  ;  I  shall  do  it  by 
my  folly. "  He  was  really  a  leaf  taken  out  of  Rabelais  or  Boccaccio 
— a  jester  whose  folly  and  wisdom  were  mingled  unequally,  much 
in  the  fashion  of  that  Wamba  son  of  Witless,  immortalized  for  us 
in  the  pages  of  Ivanhoe. 

The  man's  great  mind  had  doubtless  been  shaken  by  his  afflic 
tion  and  by  the  gloomy  theology  of  his  time.  Otherwise  these 
performances,  so  inconsistent  with  his  genius,  could  never  have 
taken  place.  The  irregularity  of  his  productions,  sometimes  deli 
cate  as  the  most  graceful  stanzas  of  the  troubadours,  and  some 
times  as  coarse  and  rough  as  Villon  at  his  worst,  are  in  exact  proof 
of  this  assertion. 

In  theology  he  was,  to  quote  Ozanam,  "  no  longer  a  dogmatic 
but  a  mystic."  He  really  became  the  leader  of  a  band  of  pure 
and  elevated  minds  which  continued,  by  direct  genealogy,  through 
Hugo  and  Richard  of  St.  Victor,  and  Tauler  down  to  St.  Theresa, 
Madame  Guyon,  Fenelon,  and  our  own  Thomas  C.  Upham.  It 
is  an  honor  of  no  slight  consequence  to  have  inspired  so  much  of 
the  spirit  of  the  Apostle  John  into  that  turbid  current  of  mediaeval 
religion.  And  it  does  not  surprise  us,  therefore,  to  find  the  Cur 
mundus  militat  of  Jacoponus  credited  to  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  nor 
ihe/esu,  dukis  memoria  of  Bernard  attributed  to  Jacoponus.  The 
two  men  were  very  similar,  but  the  opportunities  of  the  French 
abbot  were  infinitely  superior  to  those  of  the  Italian  monk.  And 
after  a  very  careful  inquiry  I  remain  convinced,  like  other  hym- 
nologists,  that  these  two  great  hymns  have  already  been  properly 
assigned.  It  is  certainly  a  staggering  piece  of  testimony  when  the 
latter  is  found  in  an  old  MS.  of  Jacoponus' s  poems,  precisely  in 
the  form  in  which  it  appears  in  the  most  critical  edition  of  the 
writings  of  Bernard.  And  it  is  equally  unsettling  for  us  to  come 
upon  the  Cur  mundus  militat  in  the  works  of  the  saint,  when  we 
know,  on  no  doubtful  evidence,  that  this  was  the  passport  of  the 
sinner  into  his  Franciscan  convent.  Once  more  it  is  worth  our 
while  to  repeat  the  warning  that  any  positive  designation  of  Latin 
hymns  by  their  authors'  names  must  rest  upon  a  firmer  foundation 


JACOPONUS  AND    THE   ' '  S TA BA  T  MA  TER. "        275 

than  the  mere  fact  that  they  can  be  discovered  in  this  man's  or 
that  man's  printed  works. 

Jacoponus  also  interests  us  in  view  of  his  Protestant  spirit  He 
never  fancied  Boniface  VIII.,  and  when  that  pope  had  a  dream  in 
which  he  saw  a  great  bell  without  a  tongue,  and  consulted  the 
keen-witted  friar  upon  its  meaning,  he  received  the  reproof 
valiant,  "Know,  your  holiness,"  said  the  undaunted  monk, 
"  that  the  great  size  of  the  bell  signifies  the  pontifical  power  which 
embraces  the  world.  But  take  heed  lest  the  tongue  be  that  good 
example  which  you  will  not  give."  For  this  and  other  liberties 
which  he  took  it  is  no  wonder  that  he  presently  found  himself  in 
prison,  where  he  suffered  everything  patiently,  and  announced  that 
he  would  go  out  when  Boniface  was  ready  to  come  in.  And  this, 
indeed,  actually  occurred.  He  was  excommunicated,  too,  but 
from  this  sentence  Benedict  XL  released  him  on  December  23d, 

1303- 

I  cannot  refrain  from  quoting  some  more  of  his  religious 
aphorisms  and  meditations  which  instinctively  suggest  to  us  the 
pious  musings  of  A  Kempis.  Here  is  one  :  "  I  have  always 
thought,  and  I  think  now,  that  it  is  a  great  thing  to  know  how  to 
enjoy  God.  Why  ?  Because  in  these  hours  of  joy,  humility  is 
exercised  with  respect  But  I  have  thought,  and  I  think  now, 
that  the  greatest  thing  is  to  know  how  to  rest  deprived  of  God. 
Why  ?  Because  in  these  hours  of  trial,  faith  is  exercised  without 
evidence,  hope  without  attempt  at  fulfilment,  and  charity  with 
out  any  sign  of  the  divine  benevolence.' '  And  here  is  a  fragment 
from  his  last  poem  :  "  Love,  I  see  that  thou  art  transfiguring  me, 
and  making  me  become  Love  like  thee,  so  that  I  dwell  no  longer 
in  my  own  heart  and  that  I  know  no  longer  how  to  find  myself 
again.  If  I  perceive  in  a  man  any  evil,  or  vice,  or  temptation, 
I  am  transformed  and  I  enter  into  him  ;  I  am  penetrated  with  his 
pain." 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  these  poems  were  in  the  Latin 
language  in  every  instance.  Very  few  of  the  entire  number  are  truly 
within  our  own  sphere  of  research,  and  all  those  composed  in 
Italian  are  accessible  to  us  only  through  a  French  prose  transla 
tion.  But  his  "  Praise  of  Poverty"  deserves  a  place  even  in  these 
pages,  for  it  reveals  the  nature  of  the  poet  and  helps  us  to 


276  LATIN  HYMNS. 

comprehend  the   pathos  and  tenderness  of  his  unregulated  ge 
nius  : 

"  Sweet  Poverty,  how  much  in  truth 

Should  we  love  thee  ! 
For,  child,  thou  hast  a  sister  named 

Humility. 
A  common  bowl,  for  food  and  drink, 

Is  all  thy  need  ; 

Bread,  water,  and  a  few  poor  herbs. 
Suffice  indeed. 

"  And,  if  a  guest  should  come,  she  adds 

A  pinch  of  salt  ; 
She  travels  fearless,  and  no  foe 

Can  bid  her  halt ; 
Thieves  do  not  plunder  her  ;  she  dies 

At  length  in  peace  ; 
She  makes  no  will  ;  no  grasping  hands 

Clutch  her  increase. 

"  Poor  little  thing  !     Behold  thou  art 

Heaven's  citizen  ; 
No  vulgar  earthly  wishes  draw 

Thee  down  to  men  ; 
Thine  is  the  greatest  sceptre,  thine 

The  kingdom  here, 
For  what  thou  carest  not  to  seek 

Still  crowdeth  near. 

"  O  science  most  profound  and  deep  ! 

For  thus  we  rise, 
And  gain  our  freedom  by  the  things 

We  most  despise  ! 
O  gracious  Poverty,  supplied 

With  joy  and  rest, 
Thine  is  the  plenty  of  the  heart, 

And  that  is  best  !" 

It  is  strangely  incongruous  with  this  almost  idyllic  gentleness 
for  us  to  find  such  a  man  hanging  a  coveted  bit  of  meat  in  his  cell 
until  the  odor  of  its  putrefaction  disgusted  the  rest  of  the  monks, 
as  well  as  put  an  end  to  his  own  craving  for  the  forbidden  dainty. 
Then,  too,  we  have  several  other  anecdotes  of  his  grim  humor 
and  bold  denunciation  of  sin.  Take,  for  example,  the  story  told 
of  his  peculiar  half-satirical  conduct  in  an  instance  which  Wadding, 
the  historian  of  the  Franciscan  Order,  relates  with  great  gusto.  A 


JACOPONUS  AND    THE    "  STAB AT  MATER."        277 

citizen  of  Todi,  a  relative  of  the  poet,  had  bought  a  pair  of 
chickens,  and  not  wishing  to  be  inconvenienced  by  them,  he  said 
to  Jacoponus,  "  Take  them  and  carry  them  for  me,  if  you  please  ; 
I  don't  care  to  burden  myself  with  them."  To  which  Jacoponus 
answered,  "Trust  me!  I'll  carry  your  chickens  home."  He 
then  went  direct  to  the  church  of  Fortunatus,  in  which  his  own 
monument  was  afterward  placed,  and  pulling  up  a  gravestone  he 
thrust  the  chickens  in  and  replaced  the  slab.  The  worthy  citizen 
on  his  return  of  course  found  no  chickens,  and  therefore  at  once 
hunted  out  Jacoponus  in  the  public  square  and  reproached  him. 
"  I  took  them  to  your  house,"  retorted  the  Franciscan.  "  But  I 
have  just  come  from  it  and  my  wife  says  she  has  not  seen  you," 
the  Tudescan  asserted.  Thereupon  Jacoponus  took  him  to  the 
church  and  having  removed  the  stone,  said  to  him  :  "  Friend, 
isn't  that  your  home?"  The  citizen,  says  Wadding,  took  his 
chickens,  being  a  man  evidently  of  frugal  mind,  and,  "  not  with 
out  fear,  went  his  way  absorbed  in  thought." 

This  mad  Solomon  is  at  times  so  keen  in  his  denunciations  of 
the  corruption  of  the  Church,  and  so  evidently  sincere  in  his  own 
religion,  that  more  than  one  hymnologist  has  thought  that  his 
folly  was  largely  assumed  as  a  guise  under  which  he  had  greater 
freedom.  The  court  fool  was  a  "  chartered  libertine"  as  to  his 
language,  and  when  we  read  the  epitaph  of  Jacoponus  it  seems  as 
if  he  had  reversed  the  saying  of  Shakespeare  and  had  stolen  Satan's 
livery  to  serve  Heaven  in.  There  is  no  question  but  that  this  satir 
ical  freedom  actually  cost  the  poor  jester  some  considerable  share 
of  imprisonment,  and  this  heightens  the  likelihood  that  he  was 
playing  Brutus  in  order  to  abolish  Caesar.  Boniface  VIII.,  whom 
he  had  very  plainly  rebuked,  was  the  one  who  imprisoned  him, 
and  he  was  not  released  before  the  case — as  he  had  indeed  pre 
dicted — was  precisely  reversed.  Let  me  record  my  own  conviction, 
based  upon  the  poem  of  which  I  append  a  translation,  and  upon 
the  other  facts  of  his  life,  that  this  view  of  his  career  has  much  in 
its  favor.  Those  days  and  these  are  not  to  be  compared  in  respect 
to  liberty.  Where  Bernard  of  Cluny  swung  his  sling  about  his 
head  and  let  the  pebbles  fly  to  right  and  left  with  no  very  tangible 
result,  Jacoponus  took  bow  and  arrows  and  drove  his  shaft  into 
the  target.  No  one  meddled  with  Bernard  ;  but  Jacoponus,  a 
century  later,  was  a  Tell  for  the  ecclesiastical  Gessler. 


278  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Of  the  Stabal  Mater  Dolorosa,  carried  by  the  Flagellants  into 
every  corner  of  Europe  as  they  flogged  themselves  in  public  to  its 
anthem,  it  can  be  said  that  it  is  one  of  the  very  greatest  hymns — 
if  not  actually  the  greatest — of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  The 
Dies  Irae,  the  Veni,  Sancle  Spiritus,  and  the  Hymn  of  Bernard  of 
Cluny,  are  catholic  rather  than  Roman.  This  is  Roman  rather 
than  catholic.  It  is  full  of  Mariolatry.  Take  a  stanza  from  a 
prose  translation  by  way  of  example  : 

"Virgin  of  virgins,  illustrious,  be  not  now  bitter  to  me,  make 
me  mourn  with  thee,  make  me  carry  about  the  death  of  Christ, 
make  me  a  sharer  in  His  passion,  adoring  His  suffering."  And 
again  :  "  O  Christ,  when  I  go  hence,  give  me,  through  Thy 
mother,  to  attain  the  palm  of  victory,"  etc. 

For  this  reason  the  Protestant  metrical  versions  of  the  Stabal 
Mater  are  few  in  number  and  generally  accompanied  by  disclaimers 
of  one  kind  or  another.  Of  course  the  music,  on  whose  wings 
the  hymn  has  now  flown  world-wide,  will  need  no  word  of  mine. 
If  the  Stabal  Mater  itself  receives  commonly  the  second  rank 
among  hymns,  it  follows  that  Rossini,  Pergolesi,  Palestrina  and 
Haydn  have  not  detracted  from  its  glory.  And  though  in  the 
terse  language  of  one  of  our  best  hymnologists,  we  say,  "  It  is 
simple  Mariolatry,  most  of  it,"  the  human  pathos  of  the  verses 
appeals  strongly  to  those  who  refuse  the  added  errors  of  the  poem. 

Of  the  Stabat  Mater  Speciosa  I  confess  to  a  decided  doubt.  It 
is  in  the  nature  of  a  paraphrase,  almost  of  a  parody.  It  is  un 
worthy  of  the  brain  that  formed  the  Mater  DoJorosa,  and  the  jester 
must  have  gone  beyond  common  folly  if  he  descended  to  this  imi 
tation  of  himself.  It  is  more  likely — and  there  is  good  ground  for 
the  opinion — that  it  is  the  work  of  some  later  hand.  Archbishop 
Trench,  by  the  way,  will  not  include  either  of  them  in  his  col 
lection. 

Of  the  other  writings  of  Jacoponus  it  may  be  interesting  to  say 
that  he  composed  hymns  and  satires  in  great  abundance,  both  in 
Latin  and  in  Italian,  which  were  collected  by  Franciscus  Tressatus, 
a  Minorite  brother,  and  published  in  seven  books.  The  Cur 
mundus  militat  (which  Wadding  quotes  at  length)  meets  this  editor's 
highest  praise.  Of  the  Italian  poems  we  can  say  that  they  are 
now  regarded  by  Symonds  and  others  as  the  fountain-head  of  Italian 
literature,  and  that  they  contained  many  of  the  crude  expressions 


J A  COP  ON  US  AND    THE    "  STAB 'AT  MATER."        279 

of  the  common  people  mixed  with  an  elegance  of  phraseology  to 
which  Dante  and  Petrarch  were  accustoming  their  mother  tongue. 
Indeed,  I  know  no  other  similar  poet,  unless  it  be  John  Skelton, 
rector  of  "gloomy  Dis"  in  England,  who  about  a  century  later 
shot  the  same  kind  of  shafts  at  the  same  manner  of  target  and  with 
much  the  same  bitter,  gibing  wit. 

But  of  all  the  compositions  of  our  mad  monk  which  I  have 
seen,  I  am  most  especially  interested  in  this  Cur  mundus  militat. 
Its  attractiveness  consists,  first  of  all,  in  its  dactylic  measure  and  in 
its  singular  adaptation  to  the  character  of  Jacoponus.  It  is  hard, 
in  the  translation,  to  catch  that  strange  jingle  of  the  cap  and  bells 
and  that  tossing  of  the  fool's  bauble  which  accompany  the  exhor 
tation.  Only  in  the  last  stanza  does  it  appear  as  if  he  deigned  to 
be  serious.  All  that  precedes  this  is  the  quaint  world-weariness  of 
the  man  too  wise  for  his  time,  and  who  is  therefore  well  pleased  to 
be  stultus propter  Christum — a  "  fool  for  Christ's  sake." 

THE  VANITY  OF   EARTH. 

Why  should  this  world  of  ours  strive  to  be  glorious 
Since  its  prosperity  is  not  victorious  ? 
Swiftly  its  power  and  its  beauty  are  perishing 
Like  to  frail  vases  which  once  we  were  cherishing. 

Trust  more  to  letters  carved  fair  on  some  frostiness 
Than  to  this  brittle  world's  empty  untrustiness. 
False  in  her  honors,  in  semblance  of  purity, 
Never  as  yet  had  she  time  for  security. 

More  should  be  trusted  to  glass,  which  is  treacherous, 
Than  to  Earth's  happiness  wretched  and  venturous — 
Filled  with  false  vanities,  lured  by  false  madnesses, 
Worn  with  false  knowledges,  sick  of  false  gladnesses. 

Where  now  is  Solomon,  once  so  pre-eminent  ? 
Where  is  that  Samson,  so  valiantly  prominent  ? 
"Where  the  fair  Absalom,  stalwart  and  beautiful  ? 
Where  the  sweet  Jonathan,  lovely  and  dutiful  ? 

Whither  went  Caesar,  that  monarch  illustrious? 
Or  the  proud  Dives,  at  table  industrious  ? 
Tell  me  of  Tullius,  lofty  in  eloquence  ; 
Or  Aristoteles,  first  in  grandiloquence. 


28o  LATIN  HYMNS. 

So  many  heroes,  such  spacious  activity, 
Dancers  and  mountebanks,  kingdoms  and  levity  ; 
Rulers  of  earth  who  were  tyrannous  o'er  us  all — 
Swift  as  a  glance  they  are  gone  from  before  us  all  ! 

What  a  short  holiday  this  of  Earth's  best  estate  ! 
Joys,  which  to  man  are  like  dreams  that  attest  his  fate  ; 
Which,  the  rewards  of  eternity  banishing, 
Lead  him  through  paths  where  his  comfort  is  vanishing. 

Food  of  the  worm  thou  art — clod  of  the  common  clay  ! 
O  dew  !     O  vanity  !     Why  praise  thy  common  way  ? 
Thou  who  art  ignorant  whether  the  morrow  come  ! 
Do  good  to  all  ere  the  time  of  thy  sorrow  come. 

Much  though  we  value  this  glory  of  earth! ness, 
Scripture  declareth,  as  grass,  its  unworthiness  ; 
Like  the  light  leaf,  by  the  mighty  wind  hurried  off, 
So  is  this  life,  by  the  darkness  soon  carried  off. 

Nothing  is  thine  which  thy  spirit  may  lose  again — 

What  this  world  gave  it  intendeth  to  choose  again  ; 

Lift  up  thy  thought  where  the  heart  hath  its  treasure-house — 

Happy  art  thou  to  despise  this  Earth's  pleasure-house  ! 

We  are  not  to  imagine  that  these  stirring  verses,  whether  in 
Latin  or  in  Italian,  went  unnoticed.  In  the  various  productions 
of  his  muse  the  humble  monk  enjoyed  a  popularity  like  that  of 
Abelard.  Numerous  manuscripts  of  his  writings  were  scattered 
through  Italy,  France,  and  Spain,  and  translations  in  these  differ 
ent  languages  helped  to  increase  his  fame.  Between  the  fif 
teenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  at  least  eight  editions  appeared. 
But  for  critical  purposes  they  are  not  so  valuable  as  might  be  sup 
posed,  since  there  are  interpolations  by  other  hands  which  confuse 
and  deter  the  investigator.  They  were  supplemented  in  1819  by 
the  publication  of  a  number  hitherto  unknown,  which  were  edited 
by  Alessandro  da  Mortara. 

Of  the  Latin  poetry  ascribed  to  him  thefesu  dulcis  memoria  is 
certainly  Bernard's,  for  Morel  discovered  it  in  an  Einsiedeln  MS. 
"  older  than  1288."  There  are  two  hymns — Crux  te,  te  volo  con- 
queri  and  Ave  regis  angelorum — of  which  we  merely  know  the 
opening  lines  and  have  no  accessible  originals.  The  Verbum  caro 
facium  esl,  the  Ave  fuil prima  solus,  and  the  Cur  mundus  initial  are 


JACOPONUS  AND    THE   "  STABA  T  MA  TER."        281 

doubtless  his  own.  The  Mater  Speciosa  I  take  the  liberty  to  dis 
credit  because  of  its  gross  Latinity — a  point  which  Ozanam  con 
cedes  in  spite  of  his  belief  in  its  genuine  character.  The  Mater 
Dolorosa  itself  has  not  escaped  question,  for  Benedict  XIV.  de 
clared  it  to  be  the  work  of  Innocent  III.,  to  whom,  with  about  the 
same  amount  of  truth,  has  also  been  attributed  the  Veni,  Sancie 
Spiritus. 

In  the  year  1306,  after  imprisonment  and  excommunication 
had  both  passed  over  his  head  and  spent  their  force  harmlessly, 
the  aged  Jacoponus  drew  near  his  end.  His  companions  urged 
him  to  ask  for  the  final  sacrament,  but  he  was  in  no  haste.  He 
would  wait,  he  said,  for  John  of  Alvernia,  his  true  friend,  and 
from  his  hands  only  would  he  receive  it.  They  considered  this 
another  proof  of  his  untamed  and  rebellious  nature,  and  loudly 
lamented  around  his  bed.  But  the  dying  man  gave  no  heed  to 
their  weakness.  He  raised  himself  upon  his  arm  and  with  lifted 
face  began  to  chant  the  Anima  benedetla — the  song  of  a  blessed 
soul.  Scarcely  had  his  voice  uttered  the  closing  words  ere  two 
men  were  seen  hastening  across  the  field.  One  was  that  very  John 
of  Alvernia,  moved  by  some  strange  presentiment  to  visit  his 
friend.  He  entered  the  room  and  greeted  Jacoponus  with  a  kiss 
of  peace.  Then  he  administered  the  sacrament  of  the  Eucharist 
And  thereupon  the  failing  singer,  his  desire  being  at  last  fulfilled, 
sang  ihe/esu  nostra  fidanza  and  relapsed  into  silence  for  a  time. 
Then  he  exhorted  those  about  him  to  live  holy  lives,  and,  lifting 
his  hands  toward  heaven,  gently  expired.  It  was  on  Christmas 
eve  and,  in  the  neighboring  church,  the  choir  had  just  begun  to 
chant  the  Gloria  in  Excelsis. 

Two  hundred  and  ninety  years  after  his  death  his  tombstone  and 
its  inscription  were  placed.  The  words,  when  rendered  from 
Latin  into  English,  are  these  : 

"  The  bones  of  the  blessed  Jacoponus  de  Benedictis  of  Todi, 
who,  a  fool  for  Christ's  sake,  deluded  the  world  by  a  new  art  and 
took  heaven  by  force." 

There  is  in  the  Lenox  Gallery  a  small  picture  by  Zamacois, 
which  represents  a  jester  leaning  against  a  head  of  Pan.  The  rude, 
broken  bust  stands  on  an  antique  pedestal,  its  mouth,  in  its  half- 
tragic,  half  comic  curves,  appearing  to  whisper  into  the  ear  of  its 
companion.  He,  scarlet-clad  and  with  his  bauble  swinging  idly 


282  LATIN  HYMNS. 

in  his  hands,  inclines  his  head  toward  it  and  seems  in  a  sad  gravity 
to  listen  to  its  words.  There,  indeed,  do  I  see  Jacoponus  !  The 
eager  heart  of  the  great  misunderstood,  inconsistent,  vain,  and 
empty  World  tells  him  of  its  nothingness — a  broken  and  abandoned 
deity  deserted  in  its  garden  of  Eden.  An  inexpressible  sadness 
comes  over  me.  Quietly  I  put  by  the  Slabat  Mater  j  I  do  not 
love  it ! — but  I  close  the  page  softly  over  the  poor  mad  prophet 
who  rests  his  weary  head  on  the  steps  of  Solomon's  throne. 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

THOMAS    A    KEMPIS. 

THE  contributions  of  Holland  to  the  devotional  poetry  of  Chris 
tendom  have  not  been  extensive  ;  but  in  the  Middle  Ages  she 
could  show  several  Latin  hymn-writers.  The  best  known  of  these, 
however,  is  by  far  more  famous  for  his  prose  works.  Thomas 
Hemerken,  called  afterward  Thomas  a  Kempis,  was  not  by  birth 
a  Hollander.  He  was  bom  in  1379  or  1380  at  Kempen,  a 
small  city  in  the  diocese  of  Koeln  (Cologne),  not  far  from  what 
became  the  boundary  line  between  the  two  nations.  But  in  those 
days,  and,  indeed,  until  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  Holland,  like 
Switzerland,  was  reckoned  a  part  of  Germany.  His  father,  John 
Hemerken,  was  an  artisan  of  the  poorer  class,  probably  a  silver 
smith  ;  and  both  his  parents  were  devout  and  God-fearing  people. 
His  elder  brother  John  had  gone  to  Deventer  to  obtain  an  educa 
tion,  after  the  fashion  of  the  times,  when  boys  wandered  from  city 
to  city  in  search  of  instruction,  and  supported  themselves  by  sing 
ing,  begging,  and  sometimes  by  thieving.  But  at  Deventer  John 
had  fallen  in  with  some  good  people  who  had  pity  upon  these 
wandering  scholars,  and  had  made  arrangements  to  furnish  them 
lodgings  and  copying-work  in  addition  to  what  they  would  earn 
by  singing  in  the  choir. 

The  chief  person  in  this  group  was  Gerard  Groote,  a  man  of 
wealthy  family  and  some  strange  vicissitudes  in  life.  He  had 
studied  at  the  universities  of  Paris  and  Prague,  and  had  taken 
minor  orders  to  qualify  himself  to  hold  the  two  canonries  family 
influence  secured  to  him,  but  without  giving  any  indication  of  a 
vocation  to  the  sacred  office.  He  seems  even  to  have  led  a  dis 
solute  life.  Then  a  great  change  came  over  him,  chiefly  through 
the  influence  of  a  friend  of  his  youth  named  Henry  Eger,  now  the 
prior  of  a  Cistercian  convent  at  Munkhuisen.  Gerard  resigned  his 
benefices,  and  spent  five  years  in  a  monastic  retreat,  from  which 
he  emerged  as  a  zealous  preacher  of  the  Gospel  to  the  clergy  and 


284  LATIN  HYMNS. 

people  of  what  now  is  Holland,  using  both  Latin  and  Dutch  as 
occasion  served.  He  especially  dwelt  on  the  utter  worldliness 
of  that  dreary  time,  when  priests,  nobles,  and  tradesmen  alike  had 
lost  all  idea  of  serving  God  and  men,  and  had  set  up  gain  and 
pleasure  as  the  recognized  ends  of  life.  His  sharp  rebukes,  and 
his  exaltation  of  humility,  simplicity,  and  poverty,  attracted  the 
lower  classes,  but  roused  the  opposition  of  both  the  burghers  and 
the  Mendicants  against  him.  After  a  brief  and  stormy  career  he 
was  silenced  by  the  Archbishop  of  Utrecht,  and  was  obliged  to 
find  vent  for  his  zeal  in  some  other  channel. 

His  purity  and  unworldliness  had  gathered  around  him,  in  his 
native  Deventer,  men  and  women  like-minded  with  him,  who, 
according  to  the  tendency  of  the  time,  drifted  naturally  into  a  kind 
of  monastic  life.  Brother-houses  and  sister-houses  were  organized, 
and  they  became  known  as  the  Brethren  and  Sisters  of  the  Com 
mon  Life.  They  took  no  vows,  and  yet  practised  celibacy,  com 
mon  ownership  and  labor,  and  obedience  to  the  rector  of  the  house. 
They  adopted  no  common  dress,  but  came  to  wear  the  simplest 
gray  robe  of  the  same  cut.  Both  laymen  and  clergy  lived  together 
in  the  brother- houses,  and  each  took  his  turn  in  the  common  ser 
vices  of  the  brotherhood.  They  observed  no  canonical  hours 
beyond  what  the  Church  exacted  of  the  priests  among  them. 
They  assumed  none  of  the  professions  of  the  monks,  and  yet  they 
realized  the  monkish  ideal  better  than  did  the  monks  themselves. 
The  four  principles  which  governed  Gerard's  own  life  and  became 
the  four  corner-stones  of  this  fraternity,  were  "  contempt  of  the 
world  and  of  self,  imitation  of  the  lowly  life  of  Christ,  good-will, 
and  the  grace  of  devoutness"  (contemptus  mundi  et  sui  ipsius,  imitatic 
humilis  vitce  Chrisli,  bona  vo!u;i/as,  gratia  devolionis).  All  this  was 
summed  up  in  the  phrase  moderna  devotto,  used  both  by  the  breth 
ren  and  the  outside  world  to  designate  the  distinctive  character  of 
the  order. 

The  experience  Christendom  had  had  of  the  results  of  mendi 
cancy  led  Groote  and  his  associates  to  base  the  new  brotherhood 
on  honest  labor.  The  shape  this  took  reflects  his  own  character. 
He  was  a  great  book-lover — semper  avarus  et  peravarus  librorum, 
he  says  himself.  When  in  peril  of  his  life  in  a  storm  by  sea,  he 
managed  to  save  the  six  books  he  had  with  him.  He  possessed  a 
considerable  library,  and  when  the  brotherhood  came  to  adopt  the 


THOMAS  A    KEMP  IS.  285 

principle  of  community  of  goods,  he  and  the  rest  put  their  books 
into  the  common  stock.  And  all  who  were  able  to  write  were  to 
labor  in  copying  books  for  sale — the  clergy  in  Latin,  the  laymen  in 
Dutch.  It  was  this  employment  he  extended  to  the  poor  scholars 
of  the  Deventer  school.  Indeed,  it  seems  not  improbable  that  he 
began  it  with  them,  and  that  the  first  brotherhood  was  composed 
of  young  friends  of  this  class,  who  had  grown  to  manhood  in  this 
-mployment.  It  is  certain  that  in  Deventer,  in  Zwolle,  and  for 
all  we  know  in  the  other  cities  where  the  brotherhood  took  root, 
near  by  the  brother-house  stood  a  poor-scholars'  house,  in  which 
the  boys  attending  the  school  of  the  city  were  lodged,  kept  under 
discipline,  and  to  some  degree  given  work  also.  But  the  Breth 
ren  of  the  Common  Life  were  not  an  educating  body,  as  has 
been  very  generally  supposed.  They  aimed  only  at  saving  boys 
from  the  moral  injury  which  too  often  attended  their  homeless  life, 
at  keeping  good  discipline  over  them,  and  at  imparting  moral  and 
religious  training.  They  aimed  to  do  for  the  school-boys  what 
the  founders  of  colleges  in  the  universities  of  Oxford,  Cambridge, 
and  Paris  tried  to  do  for  the  myriads  of  students  who  lived  like 
vagrants  in  those  seats  of  learning. 

But  before  Gerard  Groote  died  the  question  was  raised  whether 
it  would  not  be  advisable  to  establish  a  strictly  monastic  order  of 
life  for  those  of  the  brethren  who  felt  a  vocation  to  it.  To  this 
he  agreed,  but  dissuaded  his  friends  from  adopting  the  severe 
rules  of  the  Cistercians  and  the  Carthusians  for  the  new  order. 
Rather  he  suggested  that  of  the  Canons  Regular  under  the  rule 
of  St.  Augustine  as  preferable,  since  it  would  be  more  in  keeping 
with  the  spirit  of  the  brotherhood,  and  would  bind  on  no  one  too 
heavy  "burdens.  This  advice  marks  an  advance  upon  Dominic, 
Francis,  and  the  "  reformers"  of  the  Benedictine  and  Mendicant 
orders,  in  an  evangelical  direction.  They  all  sought  progress  to 
perfection  in  deeper  austerity.  In  his  case  the  preference  perhaps 
was  caused  by  his  friendship  for  the  monastery  of  Canons  Regular 
at  Grocnendal,  in  Flanders,  whose  prior  was  Jan  Rusbroek,  the 
great  Flemish  mystic.  Gerard  made  several  visits  to  Groenendal 
after  his  conversion,  and  translated  two  of  his  friend's  books  into 
Latin. 

Gerard  Groote  was  carried  off  by  the  great  pestilence  of  1384,  in 
his  forty -fourth  year.  But  he  left  the  work  in  good  hands,  for  a 


286  LATIN  HYMNS 

Deventer  priest  named  Florens  Radewinzoon  succeeded  him  as 
rector  of  the  brother-house,  and  proceeded  with  the  building  of 
the  new  monastery  at  Windesheim,  near  Deventer.  It  was  opened 
in  1386,  and  John  a  Kempis,  who  had  become  a  member  of  the 
brotherhood,  was  one  of  the  six  who  first  assumed  the  monastic 
vows. 

It  was  six  years  later,  in  1392,  that  Thomas  set  out  to  seek  his 
brother  at  Deventer  ;  for  although  the  distance  was  not  much  over 
a  hundred  miles,  he  had  heard  nothing  of  John's  profession  at 
Windesheim,  so  uncertain  and  irregular  were  the  means  of  com 
munication.  On  learning  what  had  happened,  he  proceeded  to 
Windesheim,  where  his  brother  welcomed  him  warmly.  But 
there  was  no  school  at  Windesheim,  and  John  advised  him  to  re 
turn  to  Deventer  to  attend  the  city  school  and  place  himself  under 
the  care  of  Florens.  He  did  so  and  became  an  inmate  of  the 
poor-scholars'  house,  which  had  been  given  to  the  brotherhood  by 
a  devout  matron  of  the  city.  Here  he  lived  for  six  years,  attend 
ing  school  under  Master  Johann  Boehme,  singing  in  the  choir  of 
the  church  of  which  Florens  was  vicar,  and  earning  a  little  money 
by  copying  books  for  him.  The  good  rector  showed  him  very 
great  kindness,  and  in  1398,  when  his  school  studies  were  com 
plete,  he  received  him  into  the  brotherhood.  The  year  before  this 
another  pestilence  had  visited  Deventer,  carrying  off  Johann  Kessel, 
the  saintly  cook  of  the  brother- house,  and  prostrating  Thomas 
himself,  who  recovered  with  difficulty.  Indeed,  it  seemed  as 
though  the  brotherhood  would  become  extinct,  and  Florens  and 
six  others  withdrew  for  a  time  from  the  plague-smitten  city  to 
guard  against  this  catastrophe. 

In  1399  Thomas,  at  Florens' s  instance,  decided  to  assume  the 
monastic  vows.  A  second  house  of  the  order  had  been  established 
at  Agnietenberg  (or  Mount  St.  Agnes)  near  the  city  of  Zwolle. 
Of  this  John  a  Kempis  had  been  made  the  second  prior  in  1398, 
and  held  that  office  until  1408.  Thither  Thomas  proceeded  in 
1399,  stopping  at  Zwolle  to  obtain  the  indulgence  lately  pro 
claimed  by  the  Pope  for  the  benefit  of  a  new  church  in  that  city. 
After  a  novitiate  of  seven  years  he  took  the  vows  in  1406,  and  in 
1414  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood. 

The  monastic  life  is  studiously  and  intentionally  monotonous. 
It  aims  at  the  exclusion  of  all  that  gives  zest  and  interest  to  ordi- 


THOMAS  A    KEMP  IS.  287 

nary  existence,  and  at  the  reduction  of  life's  employments  to  a 
routine.  Its  variety  and  color  are  to  be  sought  in  the  inner  life  of 
its  members,  and  that  of  Thomas  was  not  wanting  in  these  ele 
ments.  If  his  inner  experience  be  reflected  in  his  Soliloquy  of  Ihe 
Soul,  he  passed  through  those  shifting  seasons  of  gloom  and  glad 
ness  which  characterize  the  experience  of  an  introverted  religion. 
His  religious  character  was  formed  on  the  lines  of  the  modern  de 
votion,  as  defined  by  Gerard  Groote,  and  as  reflected  in  the  lives 
and  the  writings  of  Florens  Radewinzoon,  Gerard  Zerbolt,  Johann 
Mande,  Gerlach  Peterszoon,  and  Johann  Brinckerinck,  the  earlier 
notable  men  of  the  brotherhood  or  of  the  Windesheim  congrega 
tion.  His  was  not  a  bold  and  originative  mind  to  strike  out  new 
paths  for  himself.  He  had  not  even  those  gifts  of  practical  admin 
istration  for  which  Florens,  John  a  Kempis,  and  others  of  the 
order  were  notable.  Even  when  he  had  attained  recognition  as 
the  most  eminent  man  at  Agnietenberg,  his  brethren  twice 
passed  him  by  in  selecting  their  prior,  and  never  gave  him  any 
dignity  higher  than  the  sub-priorate,  which  probably  was  a  sine 
cure.  An  early  biographer  goes  so  far  as  to  describe  him  as  sitting 
silent  whenever  ordinary  and  worldly  matters  were  discussed, 
because  of  his  ignorance  of  the  very  terms  used  at  such  times. 
But  this  is  an  exaggeration.  His  Chronicle  of  the  Monastery  of 
Ml.  Si.  Agnes  shows  him  taking  a  mild  and  not  unintelligent  in 
terest  in  the  secular  side  of  the  monastic  life,  and  sharing  the  joy 
of  his  brethren  in  the  fine  apple-crop  or  the  large  take  of  fish,  and 
the  like.  But  this  Chronicle  shows  how  limited  his  range  of 
vision  and  interest.  He  lived  through  the  Papal  Schism,  the 
Asiatic  conquests  of  Timour,  the  Council  of  Constance,  the  Hus 
site  wars,  Henry  the  Fifth's  invasion  of  France,  the  exploits  of 
Jeanne  d'Arc,  the  Council  of  Basle,  the  rise  of  the  Medici  in  Flor 
ence,  and  of  the  Duchy  of  Burgundy,  the  Council  of  Florence, 
the  exploits  of  Scanderberg  and  Hunyadi  Janos,  the  Wars  of  the 
Roses,  the  revival  of  letters,  the  invention  of  printing,  the  fall 
of  Constantinople,  the  Florentine  Academy,  the  Portuguese  dis 
coveries  in  the  Atlantic,  and  much  more  that  might  be  thought 
likely  to  be  discussed  even  within  the  walls  of  a  Dutch  monastery. 
But  the  record  is  silent  as  to  all  these  things  ;  for  the  most  part 
they  are  part  of  the  doings  of  that  "  world  "  which  the  disciples 
of  the  modern  devotion  trained  themselves  to  despise. 


288  LATIN  HYMNS. 

No  doubt  the  great  question  of  the  Papal  Schism  was  of  interest 
at  Agnietenberg,  and  also  the  two  great  councils  which  brought  it 
to  an  end.  At  the  Council  of  Constance  the  Brethren  of  the  Com 
mon  Life  were  arraigned  by  a  zealous  Mendicant  as  violating  Church 
law  by  observing  the  three  rules  of  the  monastic  life  without 
belonging  to  any  recognized  order.  But  this  Mendicant  notion 
was  declared  heretical,  thanks  to  two  great  French  doctors,  Pierre 
d'Ailly  and  John  Gerson,  the  second  of  whom  was  to  be  associated 
so  closely  with  Thomas  in  a  famous  controversy. 

In  1427  the  troubles  of  the  outside  world  did  reach  the  convent 
at  Agnietenberg  and  its  associates.  There  had  been  a  disputed 
election  to  the  princely  diocese  of  Utrecht,  then  one  of  the  largest 
and  wealthiest  in  Latin  Christendom.  The  Pope  recognized  one 
candidate  and  the  people  of  the  cities  another.  To  break  down 
their  obstinacy  the  diocese  was  laid  under  an  interdict,  which  put 
an  end  to  every  act  of  public  worship.  Thereupon  the  brother 
hood  and  the  order  were  given  their  choice  by  the  citizens,  either 
to  go  on  with  their  services  as  usual  in  church  and  chapel,  or  to 
leave  the  diocese.  With  one  consent  they  chose  the  latter  alter 
native,  and  in  1429  they  distributed  themselves  among  the  asso 
ciated  brother-houses  and  monasteries  outside  the  diocese.  The 
twenty- four  clerical  and  lay  brethren  of  Agnietenberg  found  a 
home  at  Luvenkerk  in  Friesland,  in  a  disordered  monastery  which 
had  been  placed  under  the  rule  of  the  Windesheim  congregation, 
and  which  they  used  this  opportunity  to  reform.  After  three  years 
of  exile  they  were  allowed  to  return,  a  new  Pope  having  yielded 
to  the  people.  But  Thomas  did  not  return  so  soon,  for  he  had 
been  called  away  to  Arnheim  to  the  death-bed  of  his  brother  John, 
the  brother  he  had  found  at  Windesheim  instead  of  Deventer,  and 
under  whose  priorship  at  Agnietenberg  he  took  the  vows. 

In  1451  Deventer  was  visited  by  a  great  Churchman  and  notable 
thinker,  the  Cardinal  Nicolas  of  Cusa,  who,  like  Thomas,  was 
born  east  of  what  is  now  the  German  frontier,  but  had  received 
his  schooling  in  Deventer,  where  he  learned  to  love  and  honor  the 
Brethren  of  the  Common  Life.  He  came  now  as  papal  legate  to 
reform  the  abuses  which  had  arisen  in  the  churches  of  Germany 
during  the  great  schism  ;  and  when  he  came  to  his  loved  Deventer 
he  hastened  to  indicate  his  especial  regard  for  his  old  friends. 
He  granted  a  special  indulgence  to  both  the  brotherhood  and  the 


THOMAS  J5.  KEMPIS.  289 

order,  and  permitted  the  Windesheim  congregation  to  establish  a 
second  congregation,  with  equal  privileges,  to  accommodate  the 
rapidly  increasing  number  of  convents  oi  Canons  Regular. 

Thomas  survived  his  brother  by  nearly  forty  years.  His  cloister 
life  moved  on  through  three  decades  with  the  external  monotony 
of  an  existence  subjected  to  rule.  Five  years  of  the  forty  were 
years  of  pestilence  and  popular  distress,  which  he  duly  chronicles. 
But  the  only  real  interruption  of  his  routine  which  still  has  a  living 
interest  was  his  acquaintance  with  young  Johan  Wessel,  who 
came  to  pursue  his  studies  in  Zwolle,  being  drawn  by  the  charm 
of  the  Imitation  into  the  neighborhood  of  its  author.  This  prob 
ably  was  about  1460,  when  he  sought  and  made  Thomas's  acquaint 
ance,  and  often  conversed  with  him  upon  the  greatest  of  themes. 
But  the  earliest  biography  of  Wessel  belongs  to  the  next  century, 
and  is  by  a  Protestant  pastor  in  Bremen  ;  so  the  statements  that 
Wessel  found  Thomas  and  his  brother  monks  all  too  superstitious, 
and  rebuked  the  Mariolatry  of  the  author  of  the  Imitation,  are  open 
to  doubt.  That  Wessel,  the  forerunner  of  Luther,  influenced 
Thomas  in  the  writing  of  the  Imitation  is  a  palpable  absurdity. 

For  a  short  time  he  was  procurator  or  steward  of  the  monastery, 
a  task  which  must  have  been  uncongenial  to  him,  but  which  he 
would  discharge  with  his  best  diligence,  as  his  first  biographer, 
Jodocus  Badius  Ascensius,  says  he  did.  Then  he  was  sub-prior  a 
second  time  in  1448. 

The  chronicle  of  Mount  St.  Agnes  ends  with  January  iyth,  1471  ; 
its  author  died  July  26th  of  the  same  year.  His  health  had  been 
singularly  good,  but  toward  the  close  of  his  life  he  suffered  from 
dropsy.  His  eyesight  never  failed  him,  and  he  retained  all  his 
faculties  in  full  vigor  to  the  last.  As  the  end  drew  near,  the  sense 
of  all  he  had  been  to  his  brethren  as  a  friend  and  counsellor 
deepened  in  them  at  the  prospect  of  losing  him.  All  that  their 
love  could  do  and  his  ascetic  principles  would  permit,  they  did 
to  lighten  the  burdens  and  relieve  the  pains  of  his  illness.  He 
died  in  his  ninety-second  year,  after  having  been  sixty-three  years 
in  the  order  and  fifty- eight  in  the  priesthood. 

He  was  buried  within  the  cloisters  of  the  monastery.  There  his 
bones  continued  to  rest  even  after  the  dissolution  of  the  monastery 
at  the  Reformation  in  1573,  and  thence  they  were  disinterred  in 
1672  and  placed  in  a  shrine.  But  no  miracles  were  wrought  at  his 


290  LA  TIN  HYMNS. 

grave  or  by  his  bones.  Whatever  the  faults  of  the  Brethren  of  the 
Common  Life,  it  was  not  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  modern  devotion 
that  men  learned  to  crave  after  such  evidence  of  sanctity  in  the 
servants  of  God.  So  the  brotherhood  and  its  affiliated  order  have 
made  no  contributions  to  the  list  of  Roman  Catholic  saints.  There 
is  room  in  that  long  and  motley  list  for  Giovanni  da  Capistrano, 
the  cruel  and  implacable  inquisitor,  whose  path  across  Europe 
was  marked  with  blood  and  fire.  But  none  has  •  been  found  for 
the  gentle  and  loving  Thomas  k  Kempis,  who  has  wooed  millions 
of  souls  to  a  closer  communion  with  his  Master,  and  whose  own 
life  preached  humility,  patience,  gentleness,  renunciation  of  the 
world,  conformity  to  the  will  of  God,  and  likeness  to  Christ,  as 
distinctly  as  does  his  great  book.  Well,  he  is  content.  Ama 
nesciri — love  to  be  unknown — was  a  precept  often  on  his  lips  and 
illustrated  in  his  life.  Of  small  matter  to  him  would  have  been 
the  attempt  to  deny  his  authorship  of  the  Imitation,  and  the  con 
troversy  of  two  centuries'  duration  it  provoked.  Of  no  greater 
moment  the  refusal  of  the  name  of  saint  to  one  whose  only  mir 
acles  were  wrought  upon  the  spirits  of  his  brethren.  But  the 
Church  catholic  says  of  him,  ' '  Surely  this  was  a  holy  man  of 
God. " 

While  the  copying  of  books  was  the  general  employment  of  the 
brotherhood  and  of  the  order,  there  was  from  the  first  a  good  deal 
of  independent  authorship  among  them,  and  always  on  the  lines 
of  the  "  modern  devotion."  Groote  himself  labored  chiefly  by 
preaching  and  correspondence.  But  some  of  his  letters  are  tracts  in 
that  form,  and  had  a  wide  circulation  as  such.  Florens  was  not 
much  even  of  a  letter- writer,  but  he  wrote  one  devotional  tract 
which  has  been  discovered.  It  was  in  Gerard  Zerbolt  of  Zutphen, 
his  altera  manus,  that  he  found  a  fit  organ  for  the  expression  of 
his  ideas  in  writing.  To  us  Protestants  Zerbolt  is  memorable  as 
the  author  of  a  treatise  asserting  the  right  and  duty  of  unlearned 
men  to  have  good  books — the  Bible  and  their  prayer-books  in 
cluded — in  their  own  tongue.  But  he  was  much  better  known  by 
his  writing  certain  widely  circulated  books  of  devotion — modern, 
of  course.  Hendrik  Mande,  the  Seer,  was  a  Windesheim  monk 
whose  mysticism  took  the  bolder  and  more  ecstatic  flight  of  Rus- 
.broek,  and  like  Rusbroek  he  found  his  native  tongue  more  suit- 


THOMAS  y$    KEMP  IS.  291 

able  than  Latin.  Lastly,  Gerlach  Peterszoon,  sometimes  called 
"the  second  Thomas  a  Kempis,"  although  he  died  in  1411, 
before  Thomas  himself  had  become  an  author,  wrote  in  both  Latin 
and  Dutch  sundry  works,  one  of  which  still  is  reprinted  for  edifica 
tion  even  by  Protestants.  Through  all  this  literature  runs  the 
same  strain  of  thought  and  feeling,  in  spite  of  personal  differences. 
They  all  insist  on  a  deeper  renunciation  of  the  world  than  is  satis 
fied  by  any  external  monastic  compliances.  They  all  hold  forth 
the  imitation  of  Christ's  humility  and  meekness  as  the  essence  of 
the  Christian  life.  They  all  insist  on  devotion  to  the  will  of  God 
and  good-will  to  men  as  the  two  essential  channels  in  which  the 
Christian  life  must  run. 

Thomas  d  Kempis's  works  as  a  whole  fit  into  the  writings  of 
this  group  of  disciples  of  Gerard  Groote,  just  as  his  Imitation  of 
Christ  fits  into  the  rest  of  his  works.  He  simply  is  the  best  writer 
they  had,  as  the  Imitation  is  the  best  thing  he  ever  wrote.  If  none 
of  the  many  manuscripts  of  the  Imitation  bore  his  name,  as  nearly 
all  of  them  do  ;  and  if  none  of  the  contemporaries  who  knew  him 
had  certified  to  his  authorship  of  it,  as  so  many  of  them  do  ;  and 
if  none  of  the  printed  editions  bore  his  name,  as  twenty-one  of  the 
fifteenth  century  and  forty  of  the  sixteenth  do,  we  still  would 
have  been  obliged  to  ascribe  it  to  him.  No  other  century  than  his 
could  have  produced  it  It  reflects  the  ideas  of  no  other  group 
than  that  of  the  disciples  of  Gerard  and  Florens.  The  very  title, 
De  Imitatione  Christi,  et  de  Contemptu  Omnium  Vanitatum  Mundi,  ex 
presses  the  twofold  aspect  of  the  moderna  devotio  of  which  Gerard 
and  Florens  were  the  sponsors.  Among  those  disciples  there  is 
no  one  but  the  author  of  the  Soliloquy  of  the  Soul  and  the  Valley 
of  Lilies,  to  whom  we  could  give  it.  It  differs  no  more  in  point 
of  worth  from  Thomas's  other  books  than  does  the  Pilgrim's 
Progress  from  Bunyan's  other  writings,  Grace  Abounding  always 
excepted. 

While  it  is  by  his  formal  hymns  Thomas  a  Kempis  acquires  his 
right  to  a  place  here,  it  is  true  at  the  same  time  that  the  Imitation 
itself  is  a  great  Christian  poem,  not  only  in  substance  but  in  form. 
A  Belgian,  who  was  his  contemporary,  says  he  had  written  the  book 
metrics,  or  in  rhythm  and  rhyme.  As  it  was  printed  always  as 
prose  until  our  own  times,  this  statement  was  somewhat  puzzling, 
as  was  the  title,  Musica  Ecclesiastica,  found  in  some  of  the  manu- 


292  LATIN  HYMNS. 

scripts.  But  Rev.  Karl  Hirsche,  Lutheran  pastor  in  Hamburg, 
has  vindicated  both  expressions  by  showing  that  Thomas  has  fol 
lowed  such  models  as  the  sequence,  Victimae paschali,  in  the  com 
position  of  his  work.  And  he  has  given  us  an  edition  based  on 
Thomas's  autograph  of  the  year  1441,  in  which  this  peculiarity  is 
made  visible.*  It  is  true  that  this  way  of  writing  what  we  may 
call  rhymed  and  rhythmical  prose  is  not  confined  to  Thomas  or  to 
the  Imitation  among  his  works.  Among  others  Jan  van  Schoon- 
hooven,  a  Belgian  disciple  of  Jan  Rusbroek's,  uses  this  form  fre 
quently  ;  and  Pastor  Hirsche  has  pointed  out  its  frequency  in 
others  of  Thomas's  works.  But  in  no  other  book  approaching 
the  Imitation  in  length  is  the  restriction  of  rhythm  and  rhyme  so 
steadily  accepted.  As  an  instance,  take  this  brief  passage  from  the 
fifth  chapter  of  the  third  book  : 

"  Amans  volat,  currit,  et  laetatur  ; 
Liber  est,  et  non  tenetur 
Dat  omnia  pro  omnibus, 
Et  habet  omnia  in  omnibus  ; 
Quia  in  uno  summo  super  omnia  quiescit 
Ex  quo  omne  bonum  fluit  et  procedit. 
Non  respecit  ad  dona 

Sed  ad  donantem  se  convertit  super  omnia  bona. 
Amor  modo  saepe  nescit, 
Sed  super  omnem  modum  fervescit. 
Amor  onus  non  sentit, 
Labores  non  reputat  ; 
Plus  affectat  quam  valet  ; 
De  impossibilitate  non  causatur 
Quia  cuncta  sibi  posse  et  licere  arbitrator." 


*  See  his  Prolegomena  zu  finer  neucn  Ausgabe  der  "  Imitatio  Christi," 
naeh  dent  A  ulograph  des  Thomas  von  Kempen.  Zugleich  eine  Einfilhrung  in 
s&mmtliche  Schriften  des  Thomas,  sowie  ein  Versuch  zu  endgiiltigcr  Feststel- 
lung  der  Thatsache,  dass  Thomas  und  kein  Anderer  der  Verfasser  der  "  Imi 
tatio"  ist.  Band  I.  Berlin,  1873. 

Also  Thomae  Kcmpensis  "De  Imitatione  Christi  "  libri  quatuor.  Textum 
ex  atitographo  Thomae  nunc  primttm  accuratissime  reddiditt  distinxit,  novo 
modo  disposuit ;  capitulorum  argumenta,  locos  parallelos  adjecit  Caroltu 
Hirsche.  Berlin,  1874. 

Also  his  exhaustive  article  on  the  Briider  gemeinsamen  Lebens  in  Her- 
zog  &  Plitt's  Real-Encydopiidie  :  II.,  678-760.  (Leipzig,  1877). 


THOMAS  A    KEMP  IS.  293 

Or  in  Rev.  W.  Benham's  admirable  version  :  "  He  who  loveth 
flyeth,  runneth,  and  is  glad  ;  he  is  free  and  not  hindered.  He 
giveth  all  things  for  all  things,  and  has  all  things  in  all  things, 
because  he  resteth  in  One  who  is  high  above  all,  from  whom 
every  good  floweth  and  proceedeth.  He  looketh  not  for  gifts,  but 
turneth  himself  to  the  Giver,  above  all  good  things.  Love  often 
times  knoweth  no  measure,  but  breaketh  out  above  all  measure  ; 
love  feeleth  no  burden,  reckoneth  not  labors,  striveth  after  more 
than  it  is  able  to  do,  pleadeth  not  impossibility,  because  it  judgeth 
all  things  which  are  lawful  for  it  to  be  possible."  * 

The  Imitation  has  obtained  a  place  next  to  the  Bible  in  the  devo 
tional  literature  of  Christendom.  The  fact  that  the  author  was  a 
Roman  Catholic  and  that  the  fourth  book  is  a  preparation  for  the 
devout  reception  of  the  Eucharist  in  accordance  with  the  Roman 
Catholic  theory  of  its  nature,  has  not  prevented  stanch  Protestants 
from  translating  and  commending  it.  Dr.  Chalmers  wrote  a  com 
mendatory  preface  to  a  Scotch  reprint  of  John  Payne's  translation. 
And  in  Germany,  Holland,  and  England  the  Protestant  versions 
have  far  exceeded  those  made  by  Roman  Catholics.  The  first 
Protestant  version  was  that  from  the  mediaeval  into  Ciceronian 
Latin,  by  Sebastian  Castellio  (Basle,  1556) ;  the  second  was  into 
German  by  the  great  and  good  John  Arndt.  But  the  book  has 
achieved  a  still  more  notable  conquest  than  this.  In  Corneille's 
metrical  version  (1651)  it  was  a  favorite  with  Auguste  Comte,  who 
recommended  it  to  the  Benthamist,  Sir  William  Molesworth,  as 
well  worth  reading.  It  has  obtained  a  sort  of  recognition  among 
Comtists  as  a  canonical  work,  and  selections  from  it  often  are  read 
at  the  Positivist  services.  And  English  readers  will  remember  the 
passage  in  which  George  Eliot,  writing  in  Comte's  spirit,  describes 
its  effect  on  the  sensitive  spirit  of  Maggie  Tulliver  : 

"  She  knew  nothing  of  doctrines  and  systems — of  mysticism  or 
quietism  ;  but  this  voice  out  of  the  far-off  Middle  Ages  was  the 
direct  human  communication  of  a  human  soul's  belief  and  experi 
ence,  and  came  to  Maggie  as  an  unquestioned  message. 


*  The  Imitation  of  Christ.  Four  books.  Translated  from  the  Latin 
by  W.  Benham,  B.D.,  Vicar  of  Margate.  London,  1874.  It  is  to  be  re 
gretted  that  the  author  of  this,  the  best  English  version,  speaks  of  the 
ascription  of  the  Imitation  to  Thomas  i  Kempis  as  "  a  mistake,"  and 
ascribes  it  to  John  Gersen,  Abbot  of  Vercelli,  in  Italy,  who  never  existed. 


294  LATIN  HYMNS. 

"  I  suppose  that  is  the  reason  why  the  small,  old-fashioned 
book,  for  which  you  need  pay  only  sixpence  at  a  book-stall, 
works  miracles  to  this  day,  turning  bitter  waters  into  sweetness, 
while  expensive  sermons  and  treatises,  newly  issued,  leave  all 
things  as  they  were  before.  It  was  written  down  by  a  hand  that 
waited  for  the  heart's  prompting  ;  it  is  the  chronicle  of  a  solitary 
hidden  anguish,  struggle,  trust,  and  triumph — not  written  on  vel 
vet  cushions  to  teach  endurance  to  those  who  are  treading  with 
bleeding  feet  on  the  stones.  And  so  it  remains  to  all  time  a  last 
ing  record  of  human  needs  and  consolations  ;  the  voice  of  a 
brother  who,  ages  ago,  felt  and  suffered  and  renounced,  in  the 
cloister,  perhaps,  with  serge  gown  and  tonsured  head,  with  much 
chanting  and  long  fasts,  and  with  a  fashion  of  speech  different  from 
ours,  but  under  the  same  silent,  far-off  heavens,  and  with  the  same 
passionate  desires,  and  with  the  same  strivings,  the  same  failures,  the 
same  weariness." — The  Mill  on  the  Floss,  Book  IV.,  chap.  3. 

All  true  ;  but  less  than  the  truth  ;  for  Thomas's  power  lies  not 
in  these  negations,  but  in  his  personal  relation  to  "  the  supreme, 
invisible  Teacher,  the  pattern  of  sorrow,  the  source  of  all  strength, " 
from  whom  Marian  Evans  turned  away  to  fill  up  her  life  with 
"yearnings  and  strivings  and  failures,"  while  her  only  comfort 
was  in  the  consideration  that  she  had  stilled  her  pain  by  no  "  false 
anodynes." 

It  is  a  little  uncertain  at  what  time  the  Imitation  was  written. 
It  seems  not  improbable  that  it  was  begun  in  Thomas's  youth, 
when  he  had  assumed  or  was  about  to  assume  the  responsibilities 
of  the  priesthood.  A  lofty  regard  for  the  sanctity  of  that  office 
was  one  of  the  traditions  of  the  brotherhood.  Groote  himself,  in 
view  of  the  stains  of  his  earlier  life,  never  would  assume  it,  al 
though  his  ordination  would  have  enabled  him  to  resume  his  work 
of  preaching  through  the  Archdiocese  of  Utrecht.  He  never  was 
more  than  deacon,  and  the  order  which  silenced  him  merely  for 
bade  deacons  to  preach  without  especial  permission.  It  is  not 
impossible  that  in  the  case  of  Thomas,  as  in  that  of  Luther,  the 
responsibility  seemed  greater  than  he  could  bear,  and  that  it  drove 
him  into  a  closer  and  more  consecrated  fellowship  with  his  Master, 
which  bore  fruit  in  the  first  book  of  this  wonderful  manual.  He 
was  ordained  priest  in  1414  ;  there  seems  good  reason  to  believe 
that  this  first  book — the  Imitation  proper — was  known  and  read  at 


THOMAS  A    KEMP  IS.  295 

Windesheim,  and  even  translated  into  Dutch  by  Jan  Scutken,  as 
early  as  the  year  1420  ;  and  that  the  other  three  were  written,  each 
as  an  independent  work,  before  1425,  and  then  united  as  one 
manual  of  devotion.*  The  oldest  manuscript  of  the  Latin  still  in 
existence  bears  the  date  1425,  and  testifies  to  his  authorship. 
The  oldest  in  Thomas's  own  handwriting  was  made  in  1441,  and 
forms  part  of  a  series  of  his  works,  which  he  then  collected  prob- 
&bly  for  the  first  time. 

Of  Thomas's  purely  poetical  works,  besides  a  few  hortatory 
poems  and  anagrams  on  the  names  of  the  saints,  there  were  known 
until  recently  sixteen  Can/tea  Spiriiualia,  to  wit : 

Adversa  mundi  tolera, 
Agnetis  Christi  virginis, 
Ama  Jesutn  cum  Agneie, 
Ave  florens  rosa, 

Christe  Redemplor  omnium,    Vere  salus, 
Christe  sanctorum  gloria,  El  piorum, 
Gives  coeli  attendite, 
En  virginis  Caeciliae, 
Gaude,  mater  Ecclesia,  De  praecursoris, 
Jesu  Salvador  seculi, 
O  dulcissime  Jesu, 

O  Jesu  mi  dulcissime,  Spes  et  solamen, 
O  qualis  quantaque  laetitia, 
O  vera  summa  Trinitas, 
Tota  vita  Jesu  Christi, 
Vitam  Jesu  stude  imitari. 

In  1882  Father  O.  A.  Spitzen  found  in  a  manuscript  in  Zwolle 
ten  other  Can/tea  Spiritualia,  which  he  published  that  year  as  the 
work  of  Thomas  a  Kempis,  to  wit  : 


*  See  O.  A.  Spitzen  :  Thomas  a  Kempis  als  schrijver  der  Navolging  van 
Chrtstus  gehandhaafd.  Utrecht,  1881.  Also  his  Nalezingop  mijn  "Thom 
as  i  Kempis  als  schrijver  der  Navolging  van  Christus  gehandhaafd," 
benevens  tien  nog  onbekende  cantica  spiritualia  van  Thomas  a  Kempis. 
Utrecht,  1882.  Also  his  Les  Hollandismes  de  1' Imitation  de  J6sus-Christ 
el  trois  anciennes  versions  du  livre.  Rtponse  a  M.  le  Chevalier  B.  Veratti, 
professeur  a  Modene.  Utrecht,  1883.  And  his  Nouvelle  Defense  de  Thom 
as  a  Kempis  specialement  en  Rfyonse  a  R.  P.  Denifle,  sous-archiviste  du 
Vatican.  Utrecht.  1884. 


296  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Angelorum  si  Jiaberem, 
Creaturarum  omnium  merita, 
Cum  sub  cruce  sedet  moerens, 
Jerusalem  gloriosa, 
Mirum  est  si  non  higeat, 
Nee  quisquam  oculis  vidit, 
O  quid  laudis,  quis  honoris, 
Quanta  Mihi  cura  de  te, 
Serve  meus  noli  meiuere, 
Ubi  modo  est  Jesus,  ubi  est  Maria. 

Six  of  these  had  already  appeared  in  Mone's  collection,  and 
credited  to  a  fifteenth  century  manuscript  found  at  Carlsruhe,  a 
fact  which  does  not  militate  against  Spitzen's  view  of  their  author 
ship.  The  latter  found  them  along  with  the  hymns  generally 
ascribed  to  Thomas  in  a  MS.  which  had  belonged  to  the  brother- 
house  in  Zwolle,  and  had  been  written  in  the  latter  half  of  that 
century,  probably  between  1477  and  1483.  Most  of  them  bear 
the  ear-marks  of  Thomas's  style,  and  have  a  congruity  with  the 
matter  of  his  works  which  lends  probability  to  Father  Spitzen's 
conjecture. 

Of  all  these  hymns  two  only  have  attained  any  recognition  as 
contributions  to  the  sacred  songs  of  Christendom.  These  two 
are  the 

Adversa  mundi  tolera, 

which  is  rather  an  exhortation  in  the  tone  of  the  Imitation  than  a 
hymn  ;  and  the 

O  qualis  quantaque  laetitia, 

better  known,  through  the  general  omission  of  its  first  verse,  as  the 
Ads  tan  t  angelorum  chori. 

Dr.  Trench  well  says  that  the  whole  of  our  author's  poetry  will 
not  yield  a  second  passage  at  all  to  be  compared  in  beauty  with 
this.  Indeed,  most  of  Thomas's  poetry  lacks  the  inspiration 
which  characterizes  his  best  prose.  He  is  a  poet  in  prose  and  a 
prosy  poet,  and  writes  in  verse  because  he  has  been  required  to  fill 
up  some  empty  place  in  the  hymn-list  of  his  monastery.  His 
acquaintance  with  the  hymn-writer's  art  is  bounded  by  his  daily 
familiarity  with  the  hymns  of  his  breviary,  and  he  betrays  the  fact 


THOMAS  A    KEMP  IS,  297 

by  starting  from  the  first  lines  of  well-known  hymns  in  his  own 
work.  But  in  this  hymn  on  the  joys  of  heaven  he  for  once  struck 
the  right  key,  although  even  here  he  shows  some  stiffness  of  the 
joints,  like  a  monk  more  used  to  a  seat  in  the  Scriptorium  than 
to  the  saddle  of  Pegasus.  The  hymn  is  known  to  English  readers 
by  the  admirable  version  of  Mrs.  Charles  : 

"  High  the  angel  choirs  are  raising 
Heart  and  voice  in  harmony." 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

FRANCIS   XAVIER,  MISSIONARY    TO    THE    INDIES  (l  506-52). 

fNo  man,  since  the  days  of  the  Apostles,  has  been  more  com 
mended  for  his  zeal  than  Xavier.  He  has  been  the  moon  of  that 
"  Society  of  Jesus"  of  which  Ignatius  Loyola  was  the  guiding  sun. 
His  privations,  heroism,  and  success  have  been  the  constant  theme 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  And  it  is  impossible  to  study  his 
life  without  a  conviction  that  there  was  in  it  a  devout  and  gallant 
purpose  to  bless  the  world. 

Our  limits  and  our  line  of  thought  alike  demand  of  us  that  we 
shall  not  attempt,  in  any  exhaustive  form,  to  treat  of  Francis  Xavier 
from  the  theologic  or  controversial  side.  He  interests  us,  apart 
from  his  personal  character,  simply  because  two  Latin  hymns  have 
been  accredited  to  his  pen.  These  have  the  same  opening  line, 

"  O  Deus  ego  onto  Te" 

but,  after  this  exordium,  they  proceed  quite  differently.  The 
second  of  them,  as  we  find  it  placed  in  Daniel's  collection,  has 
received  the  greatest  share  of  esteem,  and  is  known  to  the  entire 
world  of  English-speaking  Christians  by  the  admirable  translation 
of  Mr.  Caswall  : 

"  My  God,  I  love  thee,  not  because 
I  seek  for  heaven  thereby,"  etc. 

There  is  good  reason  to  discredit  its  authorship,  if  this  be  a 
question  of  accuracy  with  us.  Schlosser's  language  (Vol.  i.,  p. 
407)  would  indicate  that  he  regarded  it  as  "  generally  conceded  " 
to  be  the  "  love-sigh  \Liebesseufzer\  of  the  holy  Francis  Xavier." 
But  no  proof  has  yet  been  offered  which  positively  identifies  this 
hymn  with  its  reputed  composer.  Its  spirit — and  that  of  its  com 
panion  lyric — is  precisely  his  own.  But  so,  it  may  be  added,  is  the 
spirit  of  that  touching  poem, 

"  I  am  old  and  blind — 
Men  point  to  me  as  stricken  by  God's  frown," 


FKAXCIS  XA  VIER.  299 

the  same  as  that  of  John  Milton,  its  once  reputed  author.  No 
true  student  of  Milton's  times  or  of  Milton's  language  was  ever 
deceived  by  it ;  and  the  innocent  and  amiable  Quaker  lady  of  our 
own  century,  who  wrote  it,  was  perfectly  guileless  in  this  imper 
sonation  of  his  grief.  But,  nevertheless,  it  passed  current  for  a 
long  time  on  the  strength  of  some  one's  literary  sagacity. 

This  species  of  argument  is  a  very  common  inheritance  to  the 
editors  of  Latin  hymns,  from  Thomasius  and  Clichtove  down 
ward.  But  it  is  quite  as  unsafe  as  to  assign 

"  I  am  dying,  Egypt,  dying," 

to  the  actual  Mark  Antony  when  we  know  it  to  have  been  written 
by  William  Henry  Lytle,  an  American,  born  in  1829  and  dying 
in  1863.  Therefore,  it  is  scarcely  proper  authoritatively  to  accredit 
these  hymns  to  Xavier,  or,  indeed,  to  any  other  poet.  The  utmost 
that  we  can  say  for  them  is  that  no  one  can  prove  the  converse  of 
the  proposition,  and  that  their  style  and  form  are  appropriate  to 
the  period  at  which  he  lived.  He  is  not  known  to  have  written 
other  verses.  These  may  have  been  the  only  exudations  of  that 
bruised  and  wounded  spirit  which  have  hardened  into  amber  and 
thus  have  become  precious  to  us.  And  we  would  prefer  to  believe 
that  he  truly  appears  in  these  lines  in  such  an  exquisite  mystic 
apotheosis  ralher  than  to  intermeddle  with  lower  questions,  and 
so,  perhaps,  prevent  any  discussion  of  himself  in  these  pages  at  all. 
We  have  been  prohibited  by  much  the  same  destructive  anal 
ysis  from  treating  of  Augustine,  who  never  wrote  a  hymn,  and  to 
whom  the  Ad  perennis  vitae  fontem  has  been  wrongly  ascribed,  for 
we  know  it  now  to  be  the  undoubted  composition  of  St.  Peter 
Damiani.  In  this  and  in  other  similar  cases  where  there  is  any 
literary  question  concerned,  it  may  be  worth  our  while  to  investi 
gate  with  great  carefulness.  As  a  rule,  however,  the  internal  evi 
dence  offered  in  the  hymns  themselves  will  set  us  on  the  true  path. 
They  range  in  structure  from  the  lowest  corundum  up  to  the 
choicest  diamond,  and  are  as  various  as  any  gems  in  their  prosodic 
form  and  spiritual  color.  Like  these  gems,  also,  they  are  notable 
for  varieties  of  crystallization — the  Dark  Ages  showing  imperfect 
angles  and  crude  attempts,  and  the  Renaissance  exhibiting  again 
the  old  sharp-cut  classicism  of  a  time  anterior  even  to  Hilary  and 
Ambrose. 


300  LATIN  HYMNS. 

From  the  higher  critical  standpoint,  then,  these  hymns  are  not 
unacceptable  as  Xavier's  own  work.  They  feel  as  if  they  belonged 
to  his  age  and  to  his  life.  They  are  transfused  and  shot  through 
by  a  personal  sense  of  absorption  into  the  divine  love,  which  has 
fused  and  crystallized  them  in  its  fiercest  heat.  It  is  proper  to 
inquire,  moreover,  if  Xavier  did  not  write  them,  whocfo//3  Their 
author  must  have  been  as  much  superior  to  his  own  circumstances 
and  surroundings  as  Xavier  was  to  his  ;  and  he  must  also  have 
been  as  much  possessed  by  this  same  holy  zeal.  It  is  absolutely 
incredible  that,  with  these  qualities  given,  he  should  not  have 
been  known  to  us  in  other  relations,  and,  sooner  or  later,  identified 
as  the  true  source  of  their  being.  The  sixteenth  century  was  a 
time  when  literary  knowledge  was  closer  and  keener  than  it  had 
been  in  the  twelfth,  and  a  hymn  of  that  period  could  not  be  attrib 
uted  to  Heloise  without  exposing  its  own  fallacy ;  for  in  the 
Requiescat  a  labore  we  have  such  a  comparatively  modern  lyric, 
which  Daniel  rightly  tests  and  finds  wanting.  "  It  seems  to  me," 
he  says,  "  that  this  song  is  the  production  of  a  later  age."  And 
he  might  well  say  it,  for  its  crystallization,  so  to  speak,  is  too 
accurate,  too  many-sided,  for  it  to  belong  in  the  twelfth  century 
and  to  the  sad  Abbess  of  the  Paraclete. 

One  cannot,  however,  declare  this  so  positively  of  Xavier's  two 
hymns.  In  style  and  composition  the  first  is  inferior  to  the 
second  ;  but  both  have  a  simplicity  and  directness  of  utterance 
which  may  easily  secure  that  pardon  which  their  rhythm  is  faulty 
enough  to  require.  If  one  were  to  assign  any  special  date  to  them, 
it  would  naturally  be  in  the  neighborhood  of  that  pathetic  little 
petition  which  comes  from  the  prayer-book  of  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots.  The  Domine  Dots,  speravi  in  Te  is  pitched  in  the  same  key 
with  these.  And  as  Mary  lived  from  1542  to  1587,  and  Xavier  from 
1506  to  1552,  there  is  certainly  room  for  these  two  compositions 
to  have  been  prepared  by  another  hand,  in  the  days  of  enthusiasm 
over  his  triumphant  successes  and  of  sorrow  over  his  early  death. 

With  these  arguments  for  and  against  the  authenticity  of  the 
hymns,  we  must  rest  content.  Bartoli  and  Maffei,  in  their  Life  of 
Xavier,  are  silent  upon  the  subject ;  and  the  careful  Konigsfeld 
enters  the  better  hymn  in  his  collection  as  anonymous.  If  we  re 
tain  the  reputed  authorship  ourselves,  it  must  be,  therefore,  rather 
as  Christians  than  as  scholars. 


FRANCIS  XAVIER.  y>l 

But,  having  done  so,  we  are  entitled  to  speak  of  Francis  Xavier, 
and  of  his  life  and  his  work.  The  date  of  his  birth  is  apparently 
fixed  by  a  manuscript  note  in  Spanish  in  a  family  record  possessed 
by  the  Xaviers,  which  places  it  upon  April  yth,  1506.  His  father 
was  Don  John  Giasso,  a  man  of  legal  acquirements  and  of  good 
social  position.  He  was  at  one  time  auditor  of  the  royal  council 
under  King  John  III.  For  a  wife  he  chose  Donna  Maria  d' Azpil- 
queta  y  Xavier,  and  the  child  Francis  was  born  at  the  castle  of 
Xavier,  a  few  miles  distant  from  Pampeluna  in  Navarre,  on  the 
southern  slope  of  the  Pyrenees.  He  was  the  youngest  of  a  large 
family,  and  the  castle  where  he  saw  the  light  gave  to  him  the 
patronymic  by  which  he  is  always  known.  The  family  were  orig 
inally  called  Asuarez.  but  altered  their  name  to  Xavier  when  King 
Theobald  gave  them  this  property.  The  mother's  title  was  thus 
perpetuated  in  one  of  her  sons,  but  there  seems  to  be  some  con 
fusion  still  remaining,  for  a  brother  of  the  missionary  was  Captain 
John  Azpilqueta,  who  also  apparently  had  exchanged  his  father's 
name  of  Giasso  for  one  of  the  designations  borne  by  his  mother. 

The  biographies  of  Francis  Xavier  are  naturally  of  a  kind  to  ex 
cite  the  critical  instincts  of  a  scholar.  They  are,  from  the  original 
life  by  Torsellini,  to  the  latest  Jesuit  compilation,  remarkable  for 
their  enthusiasm  and  unlimited  credulity.  It  is  only  in  such 
calmer  treatises  as  those  of  Nicolini,  Stephen,  Venn,  and  others, 
that  we  get  the  more  just  conception  of  his  character.  But  to  be 
entirely  fair  to  him  we  should  take  him  from  the  picture  painted 
by  his  co-religionists,  refusing  only  those  things  which  are  mani 
festly  incongruous  or  absurd.  The  work  of  Bartoli  and  Maffei 
may,  for  example,  be  regarded  as  entirely  safe  in  its  general  state 
ments. 

From  the  portraits  left  to  us  and  preserved  in  the  pages  of 
Nicolini  and  Mrs.  Jameson,  we  derive  a  vivid  impression  of  the 
man's  personal  intensity.  His  eyes  are  deep  and  thoughtful  ;  his 
nose  strong,  rather  blunt,  and  withal  sagacious  ;  and  his  face  is 
that  of  a  mystic.  He  is  usually  represented  as  gazing  upward  in 
religious  rapture  and  his  lips  are  parted.  His  features  are  more 
rugged  and  forcible  than  refined.  They  indicate  a  rude  strength 
of  body  and  of  will  rather  than  a  delicate  and  sensitive  nature. 
Should  we  have  met  him  personally,  he  would  have  given  us  the 
impression  of  an  enthusiast,  deeply  affectionate  and  profoundly 


302  LATIN  HYMNS. 

loyal  to  anything  like  a  military  organization.  These  opinions 
would  have  been  approved  by  the  fact 

We  read  that  his  parents  desired  to  educate  him  as  a  cavalier, 
and  that  he  was  at  first  instructed  at  home  in  the  usual  topics. 
But  as  he  showed  zeal  and  intelligence  he  was  sent,  in  his  eigh 
teenth  year,  to  the  College  of  Ste.  Barbe  at  Paris.  Here  he  com 
pleted  the  study  of  philosophy,  received  the  degree  of  Master,  and 
began  to  give  instruction  to  others.  His  most  intimate  friend  was 
Peter  Faber,  afterward  to  become  one  of  the  earliest  adherents  of 
Ignatius  Loyola.  And  the  biographers  are  unwearied  in  their 
eulogy  of  Xavier's  and  Faber' s  purity  of  life  and  morals  in  the 
midst  of  the  great  temptations  of  a  corrupt  city. 

To  these  two  young  men,  ardent  of  mind  and  eager  in  their 
ambition,  now  enters  the  influence  which  shapes  their  destiny. 
Faber  was  a  Savoyard,  poor  and  of  humble  birth,  while  Xavier  was 
well-to-do  and  possessed  the  haughty  spirit  of  a  Spanish  grandee. 
They  were,  however,  kindling  each  other  up  to  some  scheme  of 
future  glory  when  Ignatius  Loyola  made  his  way  to  Paris.  He 
had  been  converted  a  few  years  before  this  and  had  already  begun 
to  gather  proselytes  to  his  opinions.  His  purpose  in  visiting  Paris 
was  not  merely  to  avail  himself  of  better  facilities  for  study,  but 
also  to  secure  more  followers.  It  is  not  strange  to  us  that  Loyola, 
with  his  great  sagacity,  should  have  singled  out  the  two  com 
panions  and  have  set  himself  to  win  them.  Faber' s  allegiance, 
indeed,  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  obtain.  But  Xavier  did  not  so 
readily  fall  in  with  the  wishes  of  the  great  general  of  the  Jesuits. 

Faber' s  conversion  was  rapidly  accomplished.  He  was  supplied 
with  the  Spiritual  Exercises,  which  is,  of  all  books,  the  best 
adapted  to  produce  the  proper  self-abandonment  and  plastic  condi 
tion  of  soul  which  befit  the  neophyte  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  And 
this  work,  composed,  say  the  Roman  Catholic  authorities,  in  the 
cavern  of  Manresa  with  the  help  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  may  be  re 
garded  as  the  keenest  instrument  by  which  men's  lives  were  ever 
carved  into  the  patterns  designed  by  a  superior  will.  We  have  no 
space  for  a  discussion  of  Jesuitism  further  than  to  indicate  its 
methods  when  they  affect  the  subject  before  us,  but  Faber's 
behavior  undoubtedly  had  its  weight  upon  Xavier.  The  Savoyard 
took  to  fasting  with  a  perfect  fury.  In  his  debilitated  condition 
he  was  the  fit  vehicle  for  spiritual  impressions,  for  ecstasies,  and 


FRANCIS  XAVIER.  303 

for  mystical  dreams.  He  would  kneel  in  the  open  court  in  the 
snow,  and  sometimes  allow  himself  to  be  covered  with  icicles. 
His  bundle  of  fuel  he  made  into  a  bed  and  slept  upon  it  for  the 
lew  hours  of  what  one  biography  "  scarcely  knows  whether  to  call 
torture  or  repose."  In  fact,  he  so  outran  the  instruction  of 
Loyola,  that  that  keen  observer  checked  him  and  prevented  what 
would  have  reacted  against  his  own  designs.  "  For,"  saith  quaint 
Matthew  Henry,  speaking  of  another  subject,  "there  is  a  great 
deal  of  doing  which,  by  overdoing,  is  altogether  undone." 

Xavier  was,  however,  more  important  to  Loyola  than  Faber. 
And  Xavier  was  of  tougher  material  and  harder  to  reach.  Upon 
him  the  intense  Loyola  bent  the  blow-pipe  flame  of  his  own  spirit. 
He  had  failed  to  touch  him  by  texts  or  by  austerities.  He  there 
fore  changed  his  tactics  altogether  and  began  to  soften  him  by 
praise,  by  judicious  cultivation  of  his  sympathies,  by  procuring 
new  scholars  for  him,  and  even  by  attending  his  lectures  and 
feigning  a  deep  interest  in  whatever  he  did.  In  short,  he  applied 
(lattery  and  deference  in  such  a  way  that  he  insinuated  himself 
very  soon  into  the  confidence  of  Xavier,  and  allowed  the  haughty 
Don  to  recognize  the  high  birth  and  good  breeding  which  he  could 
also  claim.  This  was  a  master  stroke.  Faber  was  after  all  only  a 
Savoyard  ;  but  Loyola  was  born  in  a  castle,  had  been  a  page  at 
the  court  of  Ferdinand,  and  had  led  soldiers  into  the  deadliest 
places  of  battle.  He  had  also  the  advantage  of  being  Xavier's 
senior  by  fully  fourteen  years,  for  his  birth  had  been  contempo 
raneous  with  Columbus's  expedition  in  search  of  the  new  world. 

Here,  then,  the  influence  of  this  strong,  undaunted,  unflinching 
spirit  began  to  focus  itself  upon  the  young  teacher  of  philosophy. 
"  Resistance  to  praise,"  says  the  bitter  La  Rochefoucauld,  "  is  a 
desire  to  be  praised  twice."  And  to  so  acute  a  student  of  human 
nature  as  Loyola  it  soon  grew  evident  that  he  was  making  progress. 
This  was  proved  even  by  the  modesty  of  Xavier.  Therefore  he 
redoubled  his  energies  and  utilized  that  marvellous  power  of 
adaptation,  which  was  his  chief  legacy  to  his  order,  in  obtaining  a 
definite  result.  He  gained  ground  so  fast  that  Michael  Navarro, 
a  faithful  servant  of  the  young  scholar,  became  determined  to 
break  off  this  dangerous  fascination,  and  even  attempted  to  kill 
Loyola  in  his  private  apartments.  But  he,  too,  was  dealing  with 
a  brain  which  never  relaxed  its  vigilance  and  with  a  magnetic  per- 


304  LA  TIN  HYMNS. 

sonality  which  felt  a  danger,  and  moved  safely,  cat-like,  through 
the  dark.  He  was  halted  and  challenged  by  the  man  he  came  to 
kill,  and  being  crushed  down  in  confusion  was  thereupon  treated 
with  magnanimity,  and  went  away  revolving  many  things  in  his 
mind. 

This  was  the  power  of  Loyola — a  power  which  sprang,  first  of 
all,  from  his  peculiar  constitution,  and,  second,  from  his  fanatical 
ambition.  It  has  been  the  key  by  which  the  Jesuit  has  ever  since 
unlocked  the  doors  of  palaces  and  contrived  to  whisper  in  the  ears 
of  kings.  Its  extent  has  been  that  of  the  civilized  and  uncivilized 
world.  In  the  matter  of  organization  no  human  fraternity  has 
ever  equalled  the  Society  of  Jesus.  The  germs  which  we  behold 
at  Ste.  Barbe  in  Paris  have  grown  into  a  tree  whose  roots  have 
taken  hold  on  every  soil,  and  whose  fruit  has  dropped  in  every 
clime.  The  order  has  invariably  employed  strategy,  intrigue,  in 
genuity,  and  perfect  combination  to  secure  its  ends.  It  is,  as  a 
system,  far  from  being  either  dead  or  insignificant.  And  its  real 
vitality  has  always  sprung  from  its  maxim  that  its  associated  mem 
bers,  vowed  to  celibacy  and  to  the  accomplishment  of  its  purposes, 
should  be  Perinde  ac  si  cadavera — absolutely  subordinate  and  dead 
to  any  other  will — in  the  hands  of  the  ' '  general ' '  who  is  at  the  head 
of  its  affairs.  It  has  worked,  first  for  itself,  second  for  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  and  third  for  the  proselytizing  of  the  heathen  and 
the  heretics.  It  has  never  neglected  to  procure  in  every  manner 
the  information  it  needed  to  the  full  extent  or  to  employ  its  prin 
ciple  that  the  end  to  be  gained  justifies  the  means  that  are  taken 
to  gain  it  Thus  it  is  the  legitimate  outgrowth  of  the  soldier- 
courtier-fanatic  mind  of  its  founder.  And  this  was  the  mind  which 
was  now  spending  its  splendid  resources  upon  Xavier,  playing 
with  him  like  a  trout  upon  the  hook,  until  it  should  land  him,  a 
completely  surrendered  man,  within  its  own  control. 

In  another  sphere  and  under  other  influences,  Xavier  might  have 
been  a  far  different  person.  He,  at  least,  was  sincere  in  his  devo 
tion  to  the  cause.  He  identified  Jesuitism  with  Christianity  and 
Loyola  with  Jesus  Himself.  Hence  his  character  and  labors  have 
blinded  many  persons  to  the  methods  which  he  used  and  to  the 
results  which  he  sought 

It  must  be  sufficient  for  us  that  Ignatius  Loyola  had  now  gotten 
the  mastery  of  Francis  Xavier  so  perfectly  that  he  could  be  "  ap- 


FRANCIS  XAVIER.  305 

plied  to  the  Spiritual  Exercises,  the  furnace  in  which  he  [Loyoal] 
was  accustomed  to  refine  and  purify  his  chosen  vessels. "  A  sister 
of  the  future  missionary  had  become  one  of  the  Barefooted  Clares, 
and  had  aided  in  dissuading  her  father  from  interference.  And 
now  we  behold  Xavier  praying  wilh  hands  and  feet  tightly  bound 
by  cords  ;  or  journeying  with  similar  cords  about  his  arms  and  the 
calves  of  his  legs  until  inflammation  and  ulceration  ensued. 
There  were  now  nine  of  these  converts,  but  this  man  outdid  the 
others  in  his  austerities,  and  finally  travelled  on  foot  with  them  to 
meet  Loyola  at  Venice  in  1537.  The  society  had  really  been 
formed  on  August  15th,  1534,  at  Montmartre  near  Paris,  and  this 
was  but  its  natural  outward  movement. 

At  Venice,  on  January  8th,  1537,  they  again  met  their  leader 
and  were  assigned  for  duty  to  the  two  hospitals  of  the  city.  That 
of  the  "  Incurables"  fell  to  Xavier' s  share,  and  we  read  that  with 
the  morbid  devotion  characteristic  of  a  devout  student  of  the 
Exercises,  he  determined  now  to  conquer  his  natural  repugnance 
to  disease.  In  the  course  of  his  duties  he  had  an  unusually  hide 
ous  ulcer  to  dress  for  one  of  the  patients.  And  the  authentic  his 
tory  relates  that  "  encouraging  himself  to  the  utmost,  he  stooped 
down,  kissed  the  pestilent  cancer,  licked  it  several  times  with  his 
tongue,  and  finally  sucked  out  the  virulent  matter  to  the  last 
drop."  (Bartoli  and  Maffei,  p.  35.)  There  could  be  nothing 
worse  than  that  certainly.  And  a  man  who  had  resolutely  sounded 
this  deepest  abyss  of  self-abandonment  was  marked  for  the  highest 
honor  that  the  new  society  could  bestow.  We  cannot  doubt 
Xavier' s  sincerity,  but  the  gigantic  horror  of  this  performance  is  of 
a  sort  to  place  the  man  who  has  achieved  it  upon  an  eminence 
apart  from  less  daring  minds.  It  was  Loyola's  way  of  facing 
human  nature  and  forcing  it  to  concede  the  supreme  self-devotion 
of  his  followers.  The  world  looks  with  amazement  upon  such 
actions,  but  when  it  sees  them,  it  yields  a  kind  of  stupefied  alle 
giance  to  those  who  have  thus  rushed  beyond  the  bounds.  And  to 
a  close  analysis  there  is  as  much  concealed  spiritual  pride  about 
this  nastiness  as  there  is  an  unnecessary  shock  given  to  the  sense 
of  decency.  Thus,  as  Mozoomdar  says,  in  his  Oriental  Christ, 
"  Instead  of  abasing  self,  in  many  cases  it  serves  the  opposite 
end."  It  "imposes  a  sort  of  indebtedness  upon  Heaven" 
(p.  66).  Yet  the  poor  wretch  who  felt  those  lips  upon  his  awful 


30 6  LATIN  HYMNS, 

wound  could  not  but  worship  the  frightful  hero  who  plunged  into 
such  nauseous  contact  with  his  loathsomeness. 

Yes,  this  was  and  is  the  power  of  it  all.  It  was  and  it  is  the 
key-note  of  much  that  is  potent  with  the  world.  When  Victor 
Hugo  pictures  Jean  Valjean  in  the  toilsof  the  Thenardiers  laying  that 
white,  hot,  hissing  bar  of  iron  upon  his  arm  and  calmly  standing 
before  them  while  they  shrink — ogres  as  they  are — from  the  stench 
and  the  sight,  he  merely  uses  this  same  element.  Whatever,  in 
short,  among  us  brings  out  the  old  savage  nature  ;  whatever 
plunges  outside  of  the  conventionalities,  the  proprieties,  or  even  the 
common  decencies  oi  Hie  ;  whatever  defies  the  lightning,  or  dares 
the  volcano,  or  tramples  upon  the  coiled  serpent,  that  is  the  thing 
which  controls  the  world. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  this  is  not  a  Christian  but  a  Jesuit  act. 
It  is  born  of  that  exaggerated  sentimentalism  which  chooses  to  go 
beyond  Christ  and  His  apostles  in  its  fallacious  abnegation  of  self. 
But  wherever  such  acts  are  performed  they  rank  as  the  marks  of 
saintship  and  as  the  stigmata  of  a  crucifixion  which  proudly  places 
itself  on  the  same  Golgotha  with  another  and  nobler  cross.  The 
records,  not  merely  of  Xavier's  life,  but  of  the  lives  of  the  saints, 
swarm  with  these  creeping,  slimy  frogs  of  Egypt,  raised  up  by 
enchanters  of  the  human  mind  to  make  Pharaoh  believe  them  to 
be  equal  to  a  far  higher  Providence.  And  if  we  say  little  in  these 
pages  about  such  strange  developments  and  morbid  growths  of 
piety,  it  need  not  be  forgotten  that  they  existed,  and  that  they  have 
been  fostered  and  encouraged  by  the  Roman  Church.  The 
Breviary,  for  instance,  commends  a  roll  of  self  flagellators  who 
used  the  whip  upon  their  naked  backs,  and  Xavier  heads  the  list 
with  his  iron  flail.  Cardinal  Damiani,  who  wrote  one  of  our 
loveliest  hymns,  introduced  this  fashion  of  scourging  in  1056,  and 
the  holy  nun,  St.  Theresa,  after  such  exercises  and  an  additional 
repose  upon  a  bed  of  thorns,  was  ' '  accustomed  to  converse  with 
God."  \AIiquando  inter  spinas  volutaret  sic  Deum  alfaqui  soliiaJ\ 
This  topic,  with  its  allied  suggestions,  is  altogether  out  of  our  pres 
ent  scope  ;  but  in  order  to  see  Xavier  as  he  was,  we  must  appreci 
ate  to  what  extent  his  spirit  was  subdued  before  his  belief. 

This  was  the  man,  tested  and  edged  and  tempered,  to  whom 
was  now  committed  the  "  salvation  of  the  Indies."  It  was  during 
•the  papacy  of  Paul  III.,  the  same  Pope  who  excommunicated 


RANCIS  XAVIER.  307 

Henry  VIII.  of  England.  And  Xavier,  who  had  practised  many 
austerities  both  in  life  and  in  behavior,  was  at  first  sent  to  Bologna, 
while  Loyola,  with  Faber  and  Laynez,  went  to  Rome.  It  was  sub- 
sequently  at  Rome  that  Xavier  had  his  famous  vision,  in  which  he 
awoke  crying,  "  Yet  more,  O  Lord,  yet  more  !"  for  he  fancied 
that — as  the  Apostle  Paul  once  did — he  had  beheld  his  future 
career  and  was  glorying  in  trials  and  persecutions.  Especially  did 
he  often  have  a  dream  in  which  he  seemed  to  be  carrying  an  Indian' 
on  his  shoulders  and  toiling  with  him  over  the  roughest  and  hard 
est  roads.  And  when  at  last  Govea,  the  Rector  of  the  College  of 
Ste.  Barbe,  happened  to  be  in  Rome,  Ignatius  and  his  companions 
were  brought  by  him  to  the  notice  of  John  III.  of  Portugal,  and 
the  king  desired  to  have  six  of  them  for  use  in  India.  The  Pope 
did  not  show  any  special  desire  to  secure  their  services,  and  when 
the  question  came  up  he  referred  it  to  Ignatius  to  decide  it  as  he 
pleased.  That  sagacious  general  objected  to  taking  six  from  ten 
and  leaving  only  four  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  for  his  ambition 
now  extended  to  the  orb  of  the  earth.  He  accordingly  chose 
Rodriguez  and  Bobadilla  for  India,  men  who  were  evidently  well 
selected,  for  the  first  became  a  great  propagandist  in  Portugal,  and 
the  other  was  a  decided  obstacle  to  the  Reformation  in  Germany. 
Wh'jn  Rodriguez,  however,  fell  ill  with  an  intermittent  fever  Xavier 
naturally  occurred  to  Loyola  as  the  proper  substitute.  He  there 
fore  commissioned  him  for  the  service,  and  the  worn  and  wasted 
ascetic  patched  up  his  old  coat,  said  farewell  to  his  friends,  and 
having  craved  the  Pope's  blessing,  set  off  from  Rome  with  the 
Portuguese  Ambassador,  Mascarenhas,  on  March  i6th,  1540. 
He  started  in  such  poverty  that  Loyola  took  his  own  waistcoat  and 
put  it  upon  him,  and  he  left  behind  him  a  written  paper  of  conse 
cration  to  the  society,  expressing  in  it  his  desire  that  Loyola  should 
be  its  head,  with  Faber  as  alternate,  and  in  which  he  took  the 
vows  of  poverty,  chastity,  and  obedience  to  the  order  under  whose 
auspices  he  was  going  forth. 

At  the  Portuguese  Court  in  Lisbon,  both  Xavier  and  his  com 
panion  were  diligent  in  their  religious  work.  The  morals  of  the 
capital  were  quite  reformed,  and  when  it  came  time  for  the  ships 
to  sail  to  the  East  the  king  would  only  spare  Xavier  and  detained 
Rodriguez,  by  the  advice  of  Loyola,  further  to  improve  the  affairs 
at  home. 


308  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Xavier  now  sailed  as  Nuncio  with  papal  commendation  and  with  a 
poverty  of  outfit  which  had  its  due  effect  upon  his  companions 
on  board  the  ship.  The  vessel  itself  was  one  of  those  great  gal 
leons  of  Spanish  or  Portuguese  origin,  carrying  often  a  thousand 
persons,  and  having  from  four  to  seven  decks.  They  were  huge, 
unwieldy  constructions  and  were  generally  freighted  with  large 
amounts  of  rich  merchandise.  The  course  was  that  pursued  by 
Vasco  da  Gama — around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  into  the 
Indian  Ocean — and  the  voyage  often  lasted  beyond  eight  months. 
It  is  quaintly  related  of  travellers  by  these  precarious  sea-paths  that 
they  used  to  take  their  shrouds  and  winding-sheets  with  them  in 
case  they  died  by  the  way. 

The  company  on  shipboard  was  as  bad  as  the  provisions,  which 
were  often  execrable.  The  peninsular  sailors  never  had  the  art 
either  of  discipline  or  of  storing  a  ship  and  supplying  what  was 
needful  for  a  voyage,  as  the  English  sea-kings  had  it.  Hence  their 
vessels  were  great  floating  caravansaries  of  human  beings,  full  of 
the  scum  and  offscouring  of  society — with  lords  and  ladies  on  the 
quarter-deck,  and  robbers  and  murderers,  harlots  and  gamblers 
down  below.  The  crew  was  as  prompt  as  that  of  Jonah's  ship  to 
cry  upon  their  gods  whenever  the  wind  blew.  Such  inventions  as 
the  ship's  pump,  the  chain-cable,  and  the  bowsprit  were  not  known 
to  them.  And  when  we  see  Sir  Richard  Grenville  in  the  little 
Revenge  fighting  fifteen  great  Dons  for  as  many  hours,  or  Sir  John 
Hawkins  beating  his  way  out  of  the  harbor  of  Vera  Cruz  when  the 
Jesus  of  Lubec  was  lost  by  Spanish  treachery,  we  see  how  utterly 
cumbrous  and  awkward  these  galleons  were  when  compared  with 
English  vessels. 

Sickness  also,  in  the  form  of  fevers  and  scurvy,  was  very  fre 
quent.  And  there  was  such  laxity  of  discipline  that  a  six  months' 
voyage  generally  turned  the  great  hulk  into  a  hell  of  misery  and 
riot  Here,  therefore,  Xavier  was  in  his  element.  He  slept  on 
the  deck  ;  he  begged  his  own  bread,  and  the  delicacies  pressed 
upon  him  by  the  captain  he  divided  among  the  neediest  of  the 
poor  sufferers  ;  he  invented  games  to 'amuse  those  who  were  in 
clined  toward  amusement ;  and  by  degrees  he  commingled  his  sym 
pathy  and  friendly  offices  with  the  necessities  of  the  crew  and  pas 
sengers  until  they  called  him  the  "  holy  father."  He  constantly 
preached,  taught,  and  labored  in  this  manner  until  he  finally  sue- 


FRANCIS  XAVIER.  309 

cumbed  to  an  epidemic  fever  which  broke  out  when  they  were  not 
far  from  Mozambique.  Here  he  was  landed  and  for  a  time  was 
in  hospital,  at  length  completing  his  voyage  to  India  in  a  different 
ship  from  that  in  which  he  had  first  embarked. 

Scattered  through  his  story,  both  then  and  afterward,  we  have 
accounts  of  various  miracles,  of  his  exhibition  of  a  spirit  of 
prophecy,  and  eventually  of  his  raising  the  dead.  These  demand 
a  moment's  consideration.  He  is  said,  for  instance,  to  have  pre 
dicted  the  loss  of  the  Sanjago,  in  which  he  sailed  from  Portugal 
and  which  was  wrecked  after  he  left  her.  He  did  the  same  with 
one  or  two  other  vessels  and  assured  several  persons  of  their  own 
impending  death  or  misfortune.  Sometimes  he  was  observed  to 
speak  as  though  he  were  holding  conversation  with  unseen  com 
panions,  and  he  was  apparently  conscious  of  events  which  were 
afterward  found  to  have  occurred  at  the  very  time  in  distant  places. 
There  is  also  a  series  of  phenomena  connected  with  the  "  gift  of 
tongues"  in  his  case,  by  which  this  power  appears  to  have  been 
intermittent,  or  at  least  dependent  to  a  great  degree  upon  a  re 
markable  intensity  of  scholarship  and  keenness  of  analysis  com 
bined  with  a  powerful  memory.  It  is  not  claimed  that  he  exercised 
this  gift  in  such  a  manner  as  "to  converse  in  a  foreign  tongue  the 
moment  he  landed  in  this  foreign  country. "  And  then  there  is  a 
further  class  of  remarkable  experiences  connected  with  fevers  and 
diseases  and  the  raising  of  the  dead. 

Of  these  latter  miracles  it  may  be  well  to  treat  first.  He  is  said 
to  have  raised  up  Anthony  Miranda,  an  Indian,  who  had  been 
bitten  by  a  cobra  ;  to  have  restored  four  dead  persons  at  Travan- 
core  ;  to  have  resuscitated  a  young  girl  in  Japan  and  a  child  in 
Malacca,  and  to  have  actually  brought  to  the  ship,  alive  and  well, 
a  lad  who  had  fallen  overboard  and  been  apparently  lost  These 
incidents  are  related  with  great  gravity  by  the  biographers  and  arc 
accepted  by  the  faithful  as  being  strictly  true.  To  impugn  them 
is  as  if  one  impugned  the  Scriptures.  Nevertheless  there  is  an 
opening  for  scepticism  in  sundry  cases,  and  it  may  be  that  we 
shall  do  well  to  agree  with  the  saint's  own  statement  made  to 
Doctor  Diego  Borba.  "Ah,  my  Jesus  !"  he  answered,  "  can  it 
be  said  that  such  a  wretch  as  I  have  been  able  to  raise  the  dead  ? 
Surely,  my  dear  Diego,  you  have  not  believed  such  folly  ?  They 
brought  a  young  man  to  me  whom  they  supposed  to  be  dead  ;  I, 


3io  LATIN  HYMNS. 

commanded  him  to  arise,  and  the  common  people,  who  make  a 
miracle  of  everything,  gave  out  the  report  that  a  dead  man  had 
been  raised  to  life."  For  the  rest,  we  may  well  believe  that  the 
same  exaggeration  and  lack  of  scientific  attention  to  details  have 
accompanied  the  various  accounts,  in  some  such  manner  as  appears 
in  the  little  sketch  of  his  personal  characteristics  which  a  young 
Coquimban  named  Vaz  has  given  to  us.  This  enthusiastic  ad 
mirer  describes  his  going  afoot  with  a  patched  and  faded  garment 
and  an  old  black  cloth  hat.  He  took  nothing  from  the  rich  or 
great  unless  he  applied  it  to  the  uses  of  the  poor.  He  spoke  lan 
guages  fluently  without  having  learned  them,  and  the  crowds  which 
flocked  to  hear  him  often  amounted  to  five  or  six  thousand  per 
sons.  He  celebrated  Mass  in  the  open  air  and  preached  from  the 
branches  of  a  tree  when  he  had  no  other  pulpit.  But  of  this  heal 
ing  of  the  sick  and  raising  of  the  dead  we  are  not  offered  any 
better  testimonials  than  the  "  Acts  of  his  Canonization."  More 
over,  in  a  manner  quite  contrary  to  the  experiences  recorded  in 
the  Gospels,  these  various  miracles  seem  to  be  looked  upon  as  the 
decisive  stroke  of  Christian  policy.  Upon  their  occurrence  tribes 
and  kingdoms  bow  before  the  truth — a  thing  which  did  not  happen 
at  the  tomb  of  Lazarus,  or  before  the  walls  of  Nain,  or  within  the 
house  of  Jairus.  In  those  cases  the  evangelists  are  content  to  tell 
us  that  the  influence  was  limited  and  confined  to  a  very  moderate 
area. 

Yet  when  we  come  to  the  cures  of  sick  people,  to  the  singular 
predictions,  and  to  the  exalted  condition  into  which  Xavier  must 
often  have  been  lifted,  we  must  allow  to  the  man  a  very  high  de 
gree  of  mystical  and  mesmeric  and  even  clairvoyant  power.  We 
are  wise  enough  nowadays  to  observe  the  influence  of  a  devoted 
personality,  as  when  Florence  Nightingale  traverses  the  hospital 
wards  at  Scutari,  or  David  Livingstone  moves  through  savage 
tribes,  to  his  dying  hour  at  Lake  Lincoln.  And  when  profound 
Church  historians  will  not  altogether  discredit  the  miracles  of  the 
Nicene  Age  which  Ambrose  and  Augustine  relate,  it  causes  us  to 
be  charitable  even  toward  the  miracles  of  Bernard  of  Clairvaux, 
who  recorded  at  large  his  own  sense  of  uneasiness  respecting  his 
power  of  curing  the  sick.  But  it  somewhat  relieves  the  mind 
when  the  very  chapters  which  relate  these  experiences  of  St.  Francis 
Xavier,  mention  also  that  a  crab  came  out  of  the  sea  and  brought 


FRANCIS  XAVIER.  311 

him  his  lost  crucifix,  and  that  after  he  had  lived  in  a  certain  house 
two  children  and  a  woman  fell  out  of  the  window  at  different  times 
and  received  not  so  much  as  a  single  bruise,  though  they  dropped 
from  an  immense  height  upon  the  sea-wall.  The  credulity  which 
includes  such  palpable  absurdities  must  surely  have  exposed  itself 
to  misstatements  and  exaggerations  in  other  directions. 

It  is  far  pleasanter  for  us  to  follow  Xavier  from  his  arrival  at 
Goa,  May  6th,  1542,  to  the  fisheries  of  Cape  Comorin  ;  thence  to 
Malacca,  and  so  to  the  Banda  Islands,  Amboyna,  and  the  Moluc 
cas  in  1546  ;  again  to  Malacca  in  1547  ;  to  Ceylon  and  back  to 
Goa  in  1548,  and  finally  to  Japan.  In  1551  he  planned  a  visit  to 
China,  but  was  disappointed,  and  at  the  moment  when  he  was 
hoping  to  accomplish  a  great  purpose  he  died  on  the  island  of 
San  Chan,  December  22d,  1552,  at  the  early  age  of  forty-six  years. 

Closely  studying  himself  and  his  methods  we  find  him  greatly 
and  always  devout,  his  breviary,  however,  being  his  Bible.  He 
prayed  much  and  labored  incessantly.  His  charity  to  small  and 
great  was  untiring.  He  would  go  through  the  streets  ringing  a 
little  bell  and  calling  people  to  come  to  religious  worship,  being 
frequently  attended  by  a  throng  of  children  who  seem  to  have 
loved  him  and  been  beloved  by  him.  He  had  noble  and  sweet 
and  modest  traits  in  his  character.  But  we  often  notice  the  reliance 
he  places  on  baptism — sometimes  conferring  this  rite  until  his  arm 
dropped  from  weariness.  And  we  observe  how  much  of  the  wis 
dom  of  the  serpent  can  be  discerned  in  his  ways  with  the  people 
whom  he  desired  to  secure. 

The  indefatigable  exertions  of  Xavier  are  above  all  praise.  He 
never  appears  to  have  slackened  in  his  zeal,  nor  does  he  ever  show- 
hesitation,  doubt,  or  uncertainty  of  any  kind.  On  one  occasion 
when  roused  by  a  great  crisis  he  displayed  a  military  authority 
worthy  of  Loyola  himself.  He  stood  once  in  front  of  an  invading 
host  of  Badages  and  forbade  them  to  attack  the  Paravans,  shouting 
to  them,  "  In  the  name  of  the  living  God  I  command  you  to  re 
turn  whence  you  came."  No  wonder  that  the  semi-barbarous 
people  were  affected  by  this  fearless  and  singular  presence,  and 
spoke  of  Xavier  as  a  person  of  gigantic  stature  dressed  in  black 
and  whose  flashing  eyes  dazzled  and  daunted  them. 

But  upon  other  occasions  he  was  gentle  and  amenable  to  every 
agreeable  trait  in  his  companions.  He  could  even  take  the  cards 


312  LATIN  HYMNS. 

from  a  broken  gamester,  shuffle  them  to  give  him  good  fortune, 
and  send  him  back  to  try  his  luck  with  fifty  reals  borrowed  from 
another  passenger.  The  man's  success  is  thereupon  made  a  basis 
for  his  penitence.  And  so  with  the  wicked  cavalier  of  Meliapore, 
whose  friendship  he  gained  by  being  unconscious  of  his  vices  until 
the  time  for  exhortation  arrived.  In  these  and  similar  instances 
we  cannot  fail  to  observe  a  thorough  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
and  a  Jesuit's  keen  power  of  using  it  for  his  own  purposes. 

He  was  not  always  prospered  in  his  enterprises.  Once  at  least 
he  literally  shook  off  the  dust  from  his  shoes  against  an  offending 
tribe.  At  another  time  he  was  wounded  by  an  arrow.  But,  as  a 
rule,  he  had  a  complete  moral  victory  in  whatever  he  undertook. 
In  one  of  his  letters  he  speaks  of  the  people  being  maliciously  dis 
posed  and  ready  to  poison  both  food  and  drink.  But  he  will  take 
no  antidotes  with  him,  and  is  determined  to  avoid  all  human 
remedies  whatsoever.  It  is  in  such  superb  examples  of  his  abso 
lute  trust  in  God  that  he  presents  to  us  the  really  grand  side  of  his 
character.  He  did  not  know  what  fear  was,  and  as  for  death,  he 
was  too  familiar  with  daily  dying  to  be  concerned  at  it.  His  per 
sonal  faith  was  such  as  to  beget  faith  in  others,  as  when  an  earth 
quake  interrupted  his  preaching  upon  St.  Michael's  Day,  and  he 
announced  that  the  archangel  was  then  driving  the  devils  of  that 
unhappy  country  back  to  the  pit.  This  was  said  so  earnestly  as 
to  produce  a  profound  conviction  of  its  truth  and  to  remove  all 
alarm  from  his  audience. 

But  when  we  are  asked  to  believe  that  the  two  Pereiras  ever 
beheld  him  elevated  from  the  earth  and  actually  transfigured,  or 
when  it  is  stated  that  he  lifted  a  great  beam  as  though  it  had  been 
a  lath,  we  must  be  excused  for  being  doubtful  of  the  statement. 
There  is  nothing  more  destructive  of  religion  than  superstition, 
and  nothing  which  kills  faith  like  credulity.  Xavier,  with  all  his 
false  notions,  was  a  most  sincere  and  even  majestic  figure — a  hero 
of  the  faith,  who  shows  us  the  power  of  a  thoroughly  devoted  spirit 
unencumbered  by  any  earthly  tie  and  unobstructed  by  any  earthly 
want.  The  entire  self  immolation  of  this  career  constitutes  its 
amazing  power.  It  is  the  missionary  spirit  carried  to  its  loftiest 
height. 

Perhaps  one  of  his  most  ingenious  ways  to  secure  the  good-will 
of  his  companions  was  by  endeavoring  to  excite  their  benevolence. 


FRANCIS  XAVIER.  313 

He  would  encourage  them  to  little  acts  of  kindness  and  would 
repay  these  by  similar  favors  and  services.  Particularly  he  used 
persuasion  rather  than  denunciation,  and  personal  efforts  rather 
than  general  harangues.  He  was  "  all  things  to  all  men,"  going 
"  privately  to  those  of  reputation,"  as  Paul,  his  great  model,  was 
wont  to  do.  He  once  wrote  :  "It  is  better  to  do  a  little  with 
peace  than  a  great  deal  with  turbulence  and  scandal. ' ' 

On  April  i4th,  1552,  he  set  sail  from  Goa  for  Malacca  where  a 
pestilence  was  raging.  This  delayed  him  awhile  from  China,  and 
he  was  held  back  still  longer  by  the  envious  quarrellings  of  those 
who  aspired  to  the  honor  of  attending  him  on  his  voyage.  Xavier 
was  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  producing  the  papal  authority 
which  constituted  him  Nuncio,  and  of  threatening  with  excom 
munication  Don  Alvaro  Ataide,  the  most  troublesome  person.  In 
addition  to  this  difficulty  he  found  himself  insulted  and  reviled  in 
the  open  street,  but  accepted  everything  with  meekness  and 
patience  ;  which,  however,  did  not  prevent  his  finally  excommuni 
cating  Ataide  in  the  regular  form.  The  vessel  on  which  he  em 
barked  was  manned  mostly  by  those  in  the  pay  of  Ata'ide,  but  he 
did  not  shrink  from  the  voyage.  The  voyage  itself  is  decorated 
with  many  legends,  as  might  be  expected.  The  saint  is  reported 
to  have  changed  salt  water  into  fresh  ;  to  have  rescued  a  child 
from  death  in  a  miraculous  manner,  and  to  have  become  suddenly 
so  much  taller  and  larger  than  those  about  him  as  to  have  been 
compelled  to  lower  his  arms  when  he  baptized  the  converts. 
They  sailed  from  Chinchoo  to  San  Chan,  an  island  in  which  the 
Portuguese  had  some  trading  privileges.  It  was  here  that  Xavier 
uttered  a  prediction  which  may  serve  to  explain  other  singular 
occurrences.  He  would  seem  to  have  possessed  more  than  an 
ordinary  amount  of  medical  skill  in  diagnosis,  and  looking  ear 
nestly  upon  an  old  friend  named  Vellio,  he  bade  him  prepare  for 
death  whenever  the  wine  he  drank  tasted  bitter.  This  might  easily 
be  from  either  of  two  causes — poison,  or  a  disorganized  state  of  the 
system.  And  it  is  recorded  that  the  result  fulfilled  the  prophecy. 
Nor  is  there  much  doubt  that  Vellio's  entire  faith  in  the  prediction 
helped  on  his  death. 

From  San  Chan  Xavier  now  proposed  to  cross  to  China.  He 
arranged  to  be  smuggled  thither  in  a  small  boat,  but  the  residents 
of  San  Chan,  English  as  well  as  Portuguese,  became  alarmed  at  the 


314  LATIN  HYMNS. 

consequences  which  they  foresaw  from  this  desperate  scheme  of 
intrusion  into  the  forbidden  empire.  And  to  crown  all  his  woes 
he  fell  sick  with  a  fever,  from  which,  however,  he  convalesced  in 
a  fortnight.  He  was  now  more  anxious  than  ever  to  go  on  with 
his  project.  But  ail  the  Portuguese  ships  had  sailed  back  again 
except  the  Santa  Cruz,  on  which  he  had  arrived.  And  now  he 
was  truly  deserted  and  neglected.  He  had  scarcely  the  bare  neces 
saries  of  life,  sometimes  being  deprived  entirely  of  food.  The 
sailors  were  mostly  in  Ataide's  pay  and  inimical  to  his  purpose. 
At  length  he  became  convinced  that  he  would  himself  soon  die, 
and  so  would  often  walk  in  meditation  and  prayer  by  the  seashore 
gazing  toward  the  prohibited  coast 

At  this  time  the  young  Chinese  Anthony  was  his  only  hope  as 
an  interpreter  ;  and  he  was  now  deprived  of  the  services  of  the 
merchant  and  his  son  who  had  agreed  to  row  him  over  to  Canton. 
They  had  deserted  him,  and  only  Anthony  and  one  more  young 
lad  remained  true  to  the  dying  missionary.  On  November  2oth 
the  fever  again  seized  him  after  he  had  celebrated  Mass.  He  was 
taken  to  a  floating  hospital,  but  being  disturbed  by  its  motion  he 
begged  to  be  landed.  This  was  done  and  he  was  left  upon  the 
beach  in  the  bleak  wind.  A  poor  Portuguese  named  George 
Alvarez  then  took  pity  on  him  and  removed  him  to  his  own  hut 
of  boughs  and  straw.  Rude  medical  care  was  given  him,  but  on 
December  2d,  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  he  had  reached 
the  limit  of  his  life.  His  latest  words  were,  In  te,  Domme,  spercnri 
— non  confundar  in  aelernum — O  Lord,  I  have  trusted  in  Thee,  I 
shall  never  be  confounded,  world  without  end. 

Thus  died  Francis  Xavier,  for  ten  years  and  seven  months  a 
missionary  in  the  most  dangerous  and  deadly  regions  of  the  earth. 
At  the  date  of  his  death  he  was  of  full  and  robust  figure  in  spite  of 
his  privations,  with  eyes  of  a  bluish-gray,  and  hair  that  had  changed 
its  dark  chestnut  color  somewhat  through  his  toils  and  sufferings. 
His  forehead  was  broad,  his  nose  good,  and  his  expression  pleas 
ant  and  affable.  His  beard,  like  his  hair,  was  thick,  and  his  tern- 
perament  was  nearly  a  pure  sanguine. 

They  buried  him  first  at  San  Chan,  then  removed  him  to  Goa, 
where  in  solemn  procession  they  conducted  his  mortal  body  to  its 
final  rest.  But  his  right  arm  was  taken  off  and  it  is  to  be  observed 
that  "  the  saint  seems  not  to  have  been  pleased  at  the  amputation 


FRANCIS  XAVIER.  315 

of  his  arm,"  which,  however,  did  not  prevent  the  Jesuit,  General 
Claude  Acquaviva,  from  insisting  upon  the  mutilation. 

Down  to  the  present  time  his  memory  has  received  many  honors. 
Churches  have  been  erected,  prayers  have  been  offered,  and 
much  religious  worship  has  been  transacted  in  his  name.  But  to 
us  who  are  looking  upon  him  from  another  angle  altogether,  there 
are  apparent  in  him  a  piety,  a  zeal,  a  courage,  and  a  "  hot-hearted 
prudence"  (to  quote  F.  W.  Faber's  words)  which  arouse  our  ad 
miration.  And  in  the  two  hymns  which  bear  his  name  we  are 
able  to  discover  that  fine  attar  which  is  the  precious  residuum  of 
many  crushed  and  fragrant  aspirations,  which  grew  above  the 
thorns  of  sharp  trial  and  were  strewn  at  last  upon  the  wind-swept 
beach  of  that  poor  Pisgah  island  from  which  he  truly  beheld  the 
distant  Land. 

O   DEUS,    EGO   AMO   TE. 

O  Lord,  I  love  thee,  for  of  old 

Thy  love  hath  reached  to  me. 
Lo,  I  would  lay  my  freedom  by 

And  freely  follow  thee  ! 

Let  memory  never  have  a  thought 

Thy  glory  cannot  claim, 
Nor  let  the  mind  be  wise  at  all 

Unless  she  seek  thy  name. 

For  nothing  further  do  I  wish 

Except  as  thou  dost  will  ; 
What  things  thy  gift  allows  as  mine 

My  gift  shall  give  thee  still. 

Receive  what  I  have  had  from  thee 

And  guide  me  in  thy  way, 
And  govern  as  thou  knowest  best, 

Who  lovest  me  each  day. 

Give  unto  me  thy  love  alone, 

That  I  may  love  thee  too, 
For  other  things  are  dreams  ;  but  this 

Embraceth  all  things  true. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

THE   HYMN-WRITERS   OF    THE  BREVIARY. 

THERE  are  three  principal  liturgical  books  in  use  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  Originally  there  were  two  :  the  Ritual,  which 
contained  all  the  sacramental  offices,  and  the  Breviary,  which  con 
tained  the  rest.  But  for  convenience  the  eucharistic  office  in  its 
various  forms  now  has  a  book  to  itself  called  the  Missal,  and  the 
other  six  sacraments  recognized  in  the  Church  of  Rome  make  up 
the  Ritual. 

It  is  with  the  Breviary,  however,  that  hymnology  is  especially 
concerned,  as  it  is  in  it  that  the  hymns  of  the  Church  are  mostly  to 
be  found,  while  the  sequences  belong  to  the  Missal.  It  contains 
the  prayers  said  in  the  Church's  behalf  every  day  at  the  canonical 
hours  by  the  priests  and  the  members  of  the  religious  orders. 
Originally  there  were  only  three  of  these  canonical  hours,  and 
they  were  based  on  Old  Testament  usage.  These  were  at  the 
third,  sixth,  and  ninth  hour  of  the  Scriptures  (nine  o'clock,  noon, 
and  three  in  the  afternoon),  and  in  the  Western  Church  are  called 
Tierce,  Sext,  and  Nones,  for  that  reason.  The  number  afterward 
was  increased  to  five  and  then  to  seven.  To  these  three  day  hours 
were  added  three  night  hours,  with  two  at  the  transition  from  night 
to  day  (Prime),  and  from  day  to  night  (Vespers).  But  to  get  up 
thrice  in  the  night  was  too  much  for  even  monastic  discipline, 
so  they  said  two  night  services  together  at  midnight,  and  then 
they  slept  till  dawn.  As  this  daily  service  differs  in  its  contents 
according  to  the  seasons  of  the  Church  year,  and  also  is  adapted 
to  the  commemoration  of  the  saints  of  the  Calendar,  the  Breviary 
is  the  most  voluminous  prayer-book  known  to  Christendom.  It 
generally  is  published  in  four  substantial  volumes,  one  each  for 
the  four  natural  seasons.  It  is  used  in  such  public  services  as  are 
not  accompanied  by  a  celebration  of  any  sacrament  and  in  the 
choir  service  of  tht  religious  houses.  In  theory,  however,  the 
Church  is  present  even  at  the  solitary  recitation  of  the  hours  by  a 


THE  HYMN-WRITERS  OF    THE  BREVIARY.         317 

secular  priest ;  and  when  two  say  them  in  company  they  must 
say  them  aloud. 

Hymns  were  not  in  the  services  of  the  Breviary  from  the  begin 
ning.  As  late  as  the  sixth  century  there  was  a  controversy  as 
to  admitting  anything  but  the  words  of  Scripture  to  be  sung. 
We  find  a  Gallic  synod  sanctioning  their  use,  and  a  Spanish  synod 
taking  common  ground  with  our  Psalm-singing  Presbyterians. 
But  in  the  next  century  even  Spain,  through  the  Council  of  Toledo 
(A.D.  633),  appeals  to  early  precedent  in  behalf  of  hymns,  and  de 
cides  that  if  people  may  use  uninspired  words  in  prayer,  they  may 
do  the  same  in  their  praises — Sicut  ergo  orationes,  ita  el  hymnos  in 
laudem  Dei  composites  nullus  vestrum  ulterius  improbet — which  went 
to  the  core  of  the  question  and  silenced  the  exclusive  Psalm-singers. 
Twenty  years  later  another  Council  of  Toledo  required  of  candi 
dates  for  orders  that  they  should  know  both  the  Psalter  and  the 
hymns  by  heart.  Yet  in  the  Roman  Breviary  no  hymns  were  in 
troduced  before  the  thirteenth  century,  when  Haymo,  the  General 
of  the  Franciscan  Order,  reformed  it  in  1 244  with  the  sanction  of 
Gregory  IX.  and  Nicholas  III. 

In  the  view  of  Roman  Catholic  liturgists,  the  Psalms  set  forth 
the  praise  of  God  in  general,  while  hymns  are  written  and  used 
with  reference  to  some  single  mystery  of  the  faith,  or  the  com 
memoration  of  some  saint.  This  harmonizes  with  their  use  in  the 
Breviary,  and  their  division  into  hymns  dc  tempore  for  the  festivals 
of  the  Church  year,  or  the  days  of  the  week,  or  the  hours  of  the 
day  ;  and  hymns  de  sanctis  for  the  days  of  commemoration  in  the 
Church  Calendar.  Even  when  the  same  hymn  is  used  on  a  series 
of  days,  its  conclusion  is  altered  to  give  it  a  special  adaptation  to 
each  of  these  days.  This  classification,  of  course,  does  not  de 
scribe  the  whole  body  of  the  Latin  hymns.  Some  few  even  of 
those  in  the  Breviary,  as,  for  instance,  the  Te  Deum,  have  to  be 
classed  as  psalms,  and  are  called  Canticles  (Cantica)  ;  and  many 
outside  it  will  not  fit  into  any  such  definition  of  what  a  hymn  is. 
But  it  illustrates  the  general  character  and  purpose  of  the  hymns 
of  the  Roman  and  other  breviaries,  as  designed  for  a  special  tem 
poral  or  personal  application  by  way  of  supplement  to  the  Psalter. 

At  present  the  Roman  Breviary,  prepared  with  the  sanction  of 
the  Council  of  Trent,  has  driven  nearly  all  the  others  out  of  use. 
But  at  the  era  of  the  Reformation  there  was  a  great  number  of 


3i8  LATIN  HYMNS. 

breviaries,  every  diocese  and  religious  order  having  a  right  to  its 
own.  Panzer  enumerates  no  less  than  seventy-one  which  were 
printed  before  1536,  some  of  them  in  several  editions.*  Even 
now  the  Roman  Breviary  is  supplemented  by  special  services  in 
honor  of  the  saints  of  each  order  or  country,  and  by  services  of  a 
more  general  kind  which  are  peculiar  to  some  localities.  But  in 
Luther's  time  the  endless  variety  in  breviaries  and  missals  formed 
a  striking  feature  of  the  confusion  which  to  his  mind  characterized 
the  Church  of  Rome. 

With  the  development  of  a  more  fastidious  taste,  through  the 
study  of  the  Latin  classics  as  literary  models,  there  arose  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  even  before  the  Reformation,  a  demand 
for  a  reformation  of  the  Breviary.  Besides  its  defects  of  form, 
such  as  violations  of  Latin  grammar,  the  constant  use  of  terms 
which  grated  on  the  ears  of  the  humanists,  and  the  use  of  hymns 
in  which  rhyme  rather  added  to  the  offence  of  want  of  correct 
metre,  the  contents  of  the  Breviary  were  found  faulty  by  a  critical 
age.  The  selections  from  the  Fathers  to  be  read  by  way  of  homily 
were  in  some  cases  from  spurious  works  ;  and  the  narratives  of 
saints'  lives  for  the  days  dedicated  to  them  were  not  always  edify 
ing,  and  in  some  cases  palpably  untrue.  It  became  a  proverbial 
saying  that  a  person  lied  like  the  second  nocturn  office  of  the 
Breviary,  that  being  the  service  in  which  these  legends  are  found. 
But  the  badness  of  the  Latin  and  the  metrical  faults  of  the  hymns 
counted  for  quite  as  much  with  the  critics  of  that  day.  We  hear 
of  a  cardinal  warning  a  young  cleric  not  to  be  too  constant  in 
reading  his  Breviary,  if  he  wished  to  preserve  his  ear  for  correct 
Latinity. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  it  was  the  elegant  Medicean  Pope 
Leo  X.  who  first  put  his  hand  to  the  work  of  reform.  He  selected 
for  this  purpose  Zacharia  Ferreri,  Bishop  of  Guarda-Alfieri,  a  man 
of  fine  Latin  scholarship  and  some  ability  as  a  poet.  By  1525  Fer 
reri  had  the  hymns  for  a  new  Breviary  ready,  and  published  them 
with  the  promise  of  the  Breviary  itself  on  the  title-page,  f  Clement 


*  Annales  Typographici,  Vol.  X.,  pp.  191-94. 

\  Zachariae  Ferrerii,  Vincent.  Pont.  Gardien.  Hymni  novi  Ecdesiastici 
juxta  veram  Metri  et  Latinitatis  normam  a  Beatiss.  Patrt  Clemente  VII. 
Pont.  Max.  ut  in  Divinii  quisqiu  eis  uti possit  approbate.  .  .  .  Sanctum 


THE  HYMN-WRITERS  OF    THE  BREVIARY.         319 

VII.,  also  of  the  house  of  Medici,  was  Pope  when  the  book  ap 
peared,  and  he  authorized  the  substitution  of  these  new  hymns 
for  the  old,  but  did  not  command  this. 

The  book  is  furnished  with  an  introduction  by  Marino  Beci- 
chemi,  a  forgotten  humanist,  who  was  then  professor  of  eloquence 
at  Padua.  It  is  worth  quoting  as  exhibiting  the  attitude  of  the 
Renaissance  to  the  earlier  Christian  literature.  He  praises  Ferreri 
as  a  shining  light  in  every  kind  of  science,  human  and  divine, 
prosaic  and  poetical.  He  cannot  say  too  much  of  the  beauty  of 
his  style,  its  gravity  and  dignity,  its  purity,  its  spontaneity  and 
freedom  from  artificiality.  "  That  his  hymns  and  odes,  beyond 
all  doubt,  will  secure  him  immortality,  I  need  not  conceal.  Cer 
tainly  I  have  read  nothing  in  Christian  poets  sweeter,  purer,  terser, 
or  brighter.  How  brief  and  how  copious,  each  in  its  place — how 
polished  !  Everywhere  the  stream  flows  in  full  channel  with  that 
antique  Roman  mode  of  speech,  except  where  of  full  purpose  it 
turns  in  another  direction. ' '  That  means  how  Ciceronian  Ferreri's 
speech,  except  where  he  remembers  that  he  is  a  Christian  poet  and 
bishop  writing  for  Christian  worshippers.  "  More  than  once  have 
I  exhorted  him  that  it  belonged  to  the  duty  and  dignity  of  his  epis 
copal  (pon/iftcu)  office  to  make  public  these  Church  hymns." 

' '  You  know,  my  reader,  what  hymns  they  sing  everywhere  in 
the  temples,  that  they  are  almost  all  faulty,  silly,  full  of  barbarism, 
and  composed  without  reference  to  the  number  of  feet  or  the 
quantity  of  the  syllables,  so  as  to  excite  educated  persons  to  laughter, 
and  to  bring  priests,  if  they  are  men  of  letters,  to  despise  the  ser 
vices  of  the  Church.  I  say  men  of  letters.  As  for  those  who  are 
not,  and  who  are  the  gluttons  of  the  Roman  curia,  or  who  have 
no  wisdom,  it  is  enough  for  them  to  stand  like  dragons  close  by 
the  sacred  ark,  or  to  drift  about  like  the  clouds,  to  live  like  idle 
bellies,  given  over  to  the  pursuit  of  sleep,  good  living,  sensual 
pleasures,  and  to  gather  up  the  money  by  which  they  make  them 
selves  hucksters  in  religion  and  plunderers  of  the  Christian  people 
and  practice  their  deceits  upon  both  gods  and  men  equally,  until  the 
vine  of  the  Lord  degenerates  into  a  wild  plant." 

ft  neccessarium  opus.  Breviarium  ecclesiasticum  ab  eodem  2Zack.  Pont,  longe 
brevius  ac  facilius  redditum  et  ab  omnc  errors  propiidem  exibit. 

Impressum  hoc  divinum  Opus  Romae.  .  .  .  Kal.  Febru.  MDXXV. 
(CXV.  leaves,  quarto.) 


320  LATIN  HYMNS. 

The  Italianized  Greek  would  see  no  difference  between  a  Tetzel 
and  a  Ferreri.  But  there  still  were  sincerely  good  people  who 
relished  the  old  hymns  better  than  the  polished  paganism  of  the 
Bishop  of  Guarda-Alfieri.  Ferreri' s  hymns  struck  no  root  in  spite 
of  the  favor  of  two  Medicean  popes.  They  seem  never  to  have 
reached  a  second  edition.  Their  frankly  pagan  vocabulary  for  the 
expression  of  Christian  ideas  seems  to  have  been  too  much  for 
even  the  humanists. 

Bishop  Ferreri  does  not  seem  to  have  lived  to  prepare  his  shorter 
and  easier  Breviary  after  the  same  elegant  but  unsuitable  fashion 
as  his  hymns.  So  Clement  VII.  put  the  preparation  of  a  new 
Breviary  into  the  hands  of  another  and  a  better  man,  Cardinal 
Francesco  de  Quinonez.  He  was  a  Spanish  Franciscan,  had  been 
general  of  his  order,  and  was  made  Cardinal  by  Clement  in  ac 
knowledgment  of  diplomatic  sen-ices.  He  enjoyed  the  confidence 
of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  and  used  it  to  rescue  the  Pope  from  his 
detention  in  the  Castle  of  San  Angelo,  when  he  was  besieged  there 
after  the  taking  of  Rome  by  the  Imperial  troops  in  1529.  This  is 
hardly  the  kind  of  record  which  would  lead  us  to  look  for  a  re 
former  under  the  red  hat  of  our  cardinal.  But,  so  far  as  the 
Breviary  was  concerned,  he  proved  himself  too  rigorous  a  re 
former,  if  anything.  His  work  was  governed  by  two  leading  prin 
ciples.  The  first  was  to  simplify  the  services  by  dropping  out 
those  parts  which  had  been  added  last.  The  second  was  to  use 
the  space  thus  obtained  to  insert  ampler  Scripture  lessons  and 
more  Psalms,  so  that,  as  in  earlier  times,  the  Bible  might  be  read 
through  once  a  year  and  the  Psalter  once  a  week.  It  is  this  last 
feature  which  has  elicited  the  praise  of  Protestant  liturgists,  and  it 
is  known  that  the  Breviary  of  Quinonez  furnished  the  basis  for  the 
services  of  the  Anglican  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  excepting,  of 
course,  the  Communion  Service.  But  unfortunately  hymnologists 
are  not  able  to  join  in  this  praise.  To  get  the  Psalms  said  or  sung 
through  once  a  week,  he  dealt  nearly  as  ruthlessly  with  the  hymns 
as  if  he  were  a  Seceder. 

His  Breviary  appeared  in   1535,*  and  for  thirty-three  years  its 


*  Breviarium  Romanum  ex  Sacra  potissimum  Scriptura  et  probatis  Sanc 
torum  Historiis  nuper  confectum.  Scrntamini  Scriphiras,  qttoniam  ilia 
stint,  qttae  testimonitim  perhibent  de  Me.  loannis  V.  Romae  MDXXXV. 


THE  HYMN-WRITERS  OF   THE  BREVIARY.         321 

use  was  permitted  to  ecclesiastics  in  their  private  recitation  of  the 
hours.  It  appeared  in  a  large  number  of  editions  in  different 
parts  of  Europe,  so  that  its  use  must  have  been  extensive.  But 
it  did  not  pass  unchallenged.  The  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne  at 
Paris  hurried  into  the  arena  with  their  condemnation  of  it  before 
the  ink  was  fully  dry  on  the  first  copies.  They  declared  it  a  thing 
unheard  of  to  introduce  into  Church  use  a  book  which  was  the 
production  of  a  single  author,  and  he — as  they  wrongly  alleged — 
not  even  a  member  of  any  religious  order.  Furthermore,  he  had 
so  shortened  and  eviscerated  the  legends  for  the  saints'  days, 
besides  omitting  many,  that  nobody  could  tell  what  virtues  and 
what  miracles  entitled  them  to  commemoration.  Above  all  he 
had  omitted  Peter  Damiani's  Little  Office  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  ! 
Much  better  founded  was  the  objection  to  the  omission  of  parts 
long  established  in  use,  such  as  the  antiphons  and  many  of 
the  hymns.  Here  we  must  side  with  the  Sorbonne  against 
Quifionez. 

It  was  not  until  1568  that  the  present  Roman  Breviary  ap 
peared.  When  the  Council  of  Trent  met  in  its  final  session  in 
1562,  the  first  drafts  of  a  reformed  Breviary  and  Missal  were 
transmitted  to  the  Fathers  by  Pius  IV. ;  but  they  were  too  busy 
with  questions  of  discipline  to  do  more  than  return  these  with 
their  approbation.  The  work  was  published  by  Pius  V.  in  July, 
1568,  and  its  use  was  made  obligatory  upon  all  dioceses  which 
had  not  had  a  Breviary  of  their  own  in  use  for  two  hundred  years 
previously.  This  is  in  substance  the  Breviary  now  in  use  through 
out  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  It  underwent,  however,  two 
further  revisions.  That  under  Clement  VIII.,  finished  in  1602, 
was  by  a  commission  in  which  Cardinals  Bellarmine,  Baronius, 
and  Silvius  Antonianus  were  members.  That  under  Urban  VIII. , 
completed  in  1631,  concerns  us  more  directly,  and  especially  the 
part  of  it  which  was  effected  by  three  learned  Jesuits  :  Famiano 
Strada,  Hieronimo  Petrucci,  and  Tarquinio  Galucci,  who  had  in 
their  hands  the  revision  of  the  hymns. 


(New  Edition  ;  dfnuo  per  eundem  Auctorem  recognitum  in  1537.)  Ten 
editions  in  all  are  recorded,  of  which  the  last  consisted  of  a  single  copy 
manufactured  at  Paris  in  1679  for  the  library  of  the  great  Colbert  (Brt- 
viarium  Colbertinuiii). 


322  LATIN  HYMNS. 

The  three  revisers,  all  of  them  poets  of  some  distinction,  and 
the  first  famous  for  his  history  of  the  wars  in  the  Low  Countries, 
had  to  steer  a  middle  course  in  the  matter  of  revision.  None  of 
them  were  radical  humanists  after  the  fashion  of  Zacharia  Ferreri  ; 
that  fashion,  indeed,  had  gone  out  with  the  rise  of  the  counter- 
reformation  and  of  the  great  order  to  which  they  belonged.  Yet 
in  the  matter  of  "  metre  and  Latinity, "  of  which  Ferreri  boasted 
on  his  title  page  a  hundred  years  before,  the  revival  of  classical 
scholarship  had  established  a  standard  to  which  the  old  hymns 
even  of  the  Ambrosian  period  did  not  conform.  The  revisers 
profess  their  anxiety  to  make  as  few  changes  as  possible  ;  but 
Pope  Urban,  in  his  bull  Psalmodiam  sanclam  prefixed  to  the  book, 
announces  that  all  the  hymns — except  the  very  few  which  made 
no  pretension  to  metrical  form — had  been  conformed  to  the  laws 
of  prosody  and  of  the  Latin  tongue,  those  which  could  not  be 
amended  in  any  milder  way  being  rewritten  throughout.  Barto- 
lomeo  Gavanti,  a  member  of  the  Commission  of  Revision,  but 
laboring  in  another  department,  tells  us  that  more  than  nine  hun 
dred  alterations  were  made  for  the  sake  of  correct  metre,  with  the 
result  of  changing  the  first  lines  of  more  than  thirty  of  the  ninety- 
six  hymns  the  Breviary  then  contained  ;  that  the  three  by  Aquinas 
on  the  sacrament,  the  Ave  Maris  stclla,  the  Custodes  hominum,  and 
a  very  few  others,  were  left  as  they  were. 

This,  then,  is  the  genesis  of  the  class  of  hymns  designated  in 
the  collections  as  traceable  no  farther  back  than  the  Roman 
Breviary.  Some  of  them  are  original,  being  the  work  of  Silvius 
Antonianus,  Bellarmine,  or  Urban  VIII.  himself,  or  of  authors  of 
that  age  whose  authorship  has  not  been  traced.  But  the  greater 
part  are  recasts  of  ancient  hymns  to  meet  the  demands  of  the 
humanist  standards  of  metre  and  Latinity. 

It  is  not  easy  to  give  a  merely  English  reader  any  adequate 
idea  of  the  sort  of  changes  by  which  Strada  and  his  associates 
adapted  the  old  hymns  to  modern  use.  But  for  those  who  can 
read  Latin  some  specimens  are  worth  giving.  Take  first  the 
great  sacramental  hymn  of  the  eighth  or  ninth  century  : 

Ad  coenam  Agni  providi  Ad  regias  Agni  dapes 

Et  stolis  albis  candidi,  Stolis  amicti  candidis 

Post  transitum  maris  Rubri  Post  transitum  maris  Rubri 

Christo  canamus  principi,  Christo  canamus  principi  : 


THE  HYMN-WRITERS  OF   THE  BREVIARY.         323 


Cujus  corpus  sanctisshnum 
In  ara  crucis  torridum, 
Cruore  ejus  roseo 
Gustando  vivimus  Deo 


Divina  cujus  charitas 
Sacrum  propinat  sanguinem, 
Almique  membra  corporis 
Amor  sacerdos  immolat 


Protect!  paschae  vespero 
A  devastante  angelo 
Erepti  de  durissimo 
Pharaonis  imperio. 

Jam  pascha  nostrum  Christus  est 
Qui  immolatus  agnus  est, 
Sinceritatis  azyma 
Caro  ejus  oblata  est. 

O  vera  digna  hostia 
Per  quam  fracta  sunt  tartara 
Redempta  plebs  captivata, 
Reddita  vitae  praemia 

Cum  surgit  Christus  tumulo 
Victor  redit  de  barathro, 
Tyrannum  trudens  vinculo, 
Et  reserans  paradisum 

Quaesumus,  auctor  omnium 
In  hoc  paschali  gaudio  : 
Ab  omni  mortis  impetu 
Tuum  defende  populum. 


Sparsum  cruorem  postibus 
Vastator  horret  angelus  : 
Fugitque  divisum  tnare 
Merguntur  hostes  fluctibus. 

Jam  Pascha  nostrum  Christus  est 
Paschalis  idem  victima, 
Et  pura  puris  mentibus 
Sinceritatis  azyma 

O  vera  coeli  victima 
Subjecta  cui  sunt  tartara, 
Soluta  mortis  vincula, 
Recepta  vitae  praemia 

Victor  subactis  inferis 
Trophaea  Christus  explicat, 
Coeloque  aperto,  subditum 

Regem  tenebrarum  traliit. 

Ut  sis  perenne  mentibus 
Paschale,  Jesu,  gaudium  : 
A  morte  diracriminum 
Vitae  renatos  libera. 


Now  it  is  impossible  to  deny  to  the  revised  version  merits  of  its 
own.  Not  only  does  it  use  the  Latin  words  which  classic  usage 
requires — as  dopes  in  poetry  for  coena,  recepta  for  reddita,  inferis 
for  barathro — but  it  brings  into  clearer  view  the  facts  of  the  Old 
Testament  story  which  the  hymn  treats  as  typical  of  the  Christian 
passover.  The  (imperfect)  rhyme  of  the  original  is  everywhere 
sacrificed  to  the  demands  of  metre,  which  probably  is  no  loss. 
But  the  gain  is  not  in  simplicity,  vigor,  and  freshness.  In  these 
the  old  hymn  is  much  superior.  The  last  verse  but  one,  for  in 
stance,  presents  in  the  old  hymn  a  distinct  and  living  picture — the 
picture  Luther  tells  us  he  delighted  in  when  a  boy  chorister  sing 
ing  the  Easter  songs  of  the  Church.  But  in  the  recast  the  vivid- 


3*4 


LATIN  HYMNS. 


ness  is  blurred,  and  classic  reminiscence  takes  the  place  of  the 
simple  and  direct  speech  the  early  Church  made  for  itself  out  of 
the  Latin  tongue. 

Take  again  the  first  part  of  the  dedication  hymn,   of  which 
Angular e  fundamentum  is  the  conclusion  : 


Urbs  beata  Hierusalem 

Dicta  pacis  visio 

Quae  construitur  in  coelis 

Vivis  ex  lapidibus 

Et  angelis  coronata 

Ut  sponsata  com  he 

Novaveniens  e  coelo 
Nuptial!  thalamo 
Praeparata,  ut  sponsata 
Copulatur  domino, 
Plateae  et  muri  ejus 
Ex  auro  purissimo 

Portae  nitent  margaritis 

Adytis  patentibus, 

Et  virtute  meritorum 

IHuc  introducitur 

Omnis,  qui  pro  Christi  nomine 

Hoc  in  mundo  premitur 

Tunsionibus,  pressuris 
Expoliti  lapides 
Suis  coaptantur  locis 
Per  manum  artificis, 
Disponuntur  permansuri 
Sacris  aedifictis. 


Coelestis  urbs  Jerusalem 
Beata  pacis  visio 
Quae  celsa  de  viventibus 
Saxis  ad  astra  tolleris, 
Sponsaeque  ritu  cingeris 
Mille  angelorum  millibus. 

O  sorte  nupta  prospera, 
Dotata  Patris  gloria, 
Respersa  Sponsi  gratia 
Regina  formosissima, 
Christo  jugata  principi 
Coelo  corusca  civitas. 

Hie  margaritis  emicant 
Patentque  cunctis  ostia, 
Virtute  natnque  praevia 
Mortalis  illuc  ducitur 
Amore  Christi  percitus 
Tormenta  quisquis  sustinent. 

Scalpri  salubris  ictibus 

Et  tunsione  plurima, 

Fabri  polita  malleo 

Hanc  saxamolem  construunt, 

Aptisque  juncta  nexibus 

Locantur  in  fastidia. 


Daniel  in  his  first  volume  prints  fifty-five  of  these  recasts  in 
parallel  columns  with  the  originals,  and  to  that  we  will  refer  our 
readers  for  further  specimens.  It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  not 
all  the  scholarship  of  that  age  was  insensible  to  the  qualities  which 
the  revisers  sacrificed.  Henry  Valesius,  although  only  a  layman 
and  a  lover  of  good  Latin — as  his  versions  of  the  historians  of  the 
early  Church  show — uttered  a  fierce  but  ineffectual  protest  in 
favor  of  the  early  and  mediaeval  hymns.  And  the  Marquis  of 
Bute,  a  convert  to  Catholicism,  who  published  an  English  trans- 


THE  HYMN-WRITERS  OF    THE  BREVIARY.         325 

lation  of  the  Breviary  in  1879,  says  that  the  revisers  of  1602  "  with 
deplorable  taste  made  a  series  of  changes  in  the  texts  of  the 
hymns,  which  has  been  disastrous  both  to  the  literary  merit  and 
the  historical  interest  of  the  poems."  He  hopes  for  a  further  re 
vision  which  shall  undo  this  mischief,  but  in  other  respects  return 
to  the  type  furnished  by  the  Breviary  of  Quinonez. 

The  translations  from  the  hymns  of  the  Roman  Breviary  have 
been  very  abundant  Those  by  Protestants  have  been  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  texts  even  of  ancient  hymns  were  so  much  more  ac 
cessible  in  their  Breviary  version  than  in  their  original  form. 
Among  Roman  Catholics,  of  course,  other  considerations  have 
weight;  and  in  Mr.  Edward  Caswall's Zj/r<z  CatholicavnA.  Mr.  Orby 
Shipley's  Annus  Sanctus  will  be  found  some  very  admirable  ver 
sions.  The  latter  book  is  an  anthology  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
translators  from  John  Dryden  to  John  Henry  Newman. 

From  the  Breviary  text  Mr.  Duffield  has  made  the  following 
translations  of  two  hymns  by  Gregory  the  Great : 

JAM   LUCIS  ORTO  SIDERE. 

Now  with  the  risen  star  of  dawn, 

To  God  as  suppliants  we  pray, 
That  he  may  keep  us  free  from  harm, 

And  guide  us  through  an  active  day. 

May  he,  restraining,  guard  the  tongue, 

Lest  it  be  found  to  strive  and  cry, 
And,  lest  it  drink  in  vanities, 

May  he  protect  the  wayward  eye. 

Let  all  our  inmost  thoughts  be  pure, 
And  heedlessness  of  heart  be  gone  ; 

Let  self-denying  drink  and  food 
Hold  pride  and  Mesh  securely  down, 

That  when  the  day  at  length  is  past, 
And  night  in  turn  has  come  to  men, 

Through  abstinence  from  earth,  we  may 
Give  thee  the  only  glory  then. 

To  God  the  Father  be  the  praise, 

And  to  his  sole-begotten  Son, 
And  to  the  Holy  Paraclete, 

Now  and  until  all  time  be  done. 


326  LA  TIN  HYMNS. 

ECCE  JAM   NOCTIS   TENUATUR   UMBRA. 

Lo,  now,  the  shadows  of  the  night  are  breaking. 
While  in  the  east  the  rising  daylight  brightens. 
Therefore  with  praises  will  we  all  adore  thee, 
Lord  God  Almighty  ! 

How  doth  our  God,  commiserating  mortals, 
Drive  away  sorrow,  offering  them  safety, 
Since  he  shall  give  us,  through  paternal  kindness, 
Rule  in  the  heavens  ! 

This  let  the  blessed  Deity  afford  us, 

Father  and  Son  and  equal  Holy  Spirit, 
Whose  through  the  earth  be  glory  in  all  places 
Ever  resounding. 

Also  this  translation  of  the  Breviary  recast  of  the  Urbs  beattt 
Hierusalem  of  the  seventh  or  eighth  century  : 

COELESTIS   URBS   JERUSALEM. 

O  heavenly  town,  Jerusalem, 

Thou  blessed  dawn  of  peace, 
How  lofty  from  the  living  rock 

Thy  starry  walls  increase, 
Where  thousand,  thousand  angels  stand. 

And  praises  never  cease. 

O  bride,  whose  lot  is  aye  serene, 

The  Father's  state  is  thine  ; 
Thou  art  the  ever-fairest  queen 

Adorned  with  grace  divine  ; 
United  unto  Christ,  thy  Head, 

Thy  heavenly  form  doth  shine. 

How  softly  gleam  thy  pearly  gates 

Which  open  wide  to  all, 
Here  virtue  entered  long  ago, 

And  unto  men  doth  call, 
Who  loved  the  Lord  through  mortal  pain. 

And  fought  and  did  not  fall. 

Thy  beauty  came  by  chisel  stroke 

And  many  a  hammer-blow  ; 
The  workman's  hammer  wrought  the  stone 

Which  buildeth  thee  below  ; 
And  joined  with  bonds  of  aptest  skill 

Thy  splendid  turrets  glow. 


THE  HYMN-WRITERS  OF   THE  BREVIARY.        327 

Then  honor  unto  God  most  high 

As  it  was  due  of  yore  ; 
And  thus  the  Father's  only  Son 

And  Spirit  we  adore, 
To  whom  be  glory,  power,  and  praise 

Through  ages  evermore. 

To  these  Dr.  A.  R.  Thompson  permits  us  to  add,  as  a  speci 
men  of  the  later  hymns  of  the  Latin  Church,  his  translation  of 

CUR   RELINQUIS,    DEUS,   COELUM. 

0  God,  why  didst  thou  put  aside 

For  this  vile  earth  thy  heaven  above  ? 
Didst  thou  expect  there  would  betide 

Thee  here  the  ministry  of  love  ? 
That  earth  had  honor,  Lord,  for  thee  ? 
Honor  and  love  !  nay,  verily, 
Lying  in  wickedness,  earth  knows 
Not  how  to  love  thee,  but  thy  foes. 

Bethlehem  proved  what  love  for  thee 

This  present  evil  world  hath,  when 
She  shut  against  thee  cruelly 

The  doors  left  wide  for  other  men. 
And  forced  thee  to  the  hovel,  where — 
Wide  open  to  the  winter  air — 
The  very  beasts  could  scarcely  live  ; 
No  other  shelter  would  she  give. 

Come,  Jesus,  from  that  hovel  cold, 
Exposed  to  all  the  winds  that  blow, 

Chilled  by  discomfort  manifold, 

From  the  poor  couch  all  wet  with  snow. 

My  all  a  couch  for  thee  I  make, 

My  heart  the  shelter  thou  shall  take. 

1  give  it  all,  I  give  my  best, 
That  were  for  thee  a  better  rest. 

My  heart  to  love  thee,  Lord,  desires, 
And,  loving,  proffers  love's  warm  kiss. 

The  kiss,  to  give  which  she  aspires, 
Honor  and  adoration  is. 

Take  thou  from  me  this  honor  true  ; 

Take  thou  the  love  which  is  thy  due  ; 

For  this,  my  loyal  offering, 

Out  of  my  very  heart  I  bring. 


328  LATIN  HYMNS. 

My  heart,  all  burning  with  the  fire 

Of  love  to  thee,  would  cherish  thine  ; 
But  thou  that  love  canst  kindle  higher. 

And  thou  wilt  rather  cherish  mine. 
For  thou  art  Love,  and  canst  inflame 
The  hearts  of  them  that  love  thy  name 
With  thine  own  self,  and  not  with  wood  ; 
Thou  art  the  very  Fire  of  God. 

Come,  then,  O  Fire  of  God,  to  me  ! 

Come,  Love,  and  never  more  depart ! 
Enter  the  place  prepared  for  thee, 

The  shelter  of  my  loving  heart ! 
I'll  spread  thee  there  a  couch  of  rest, 
And  deem  myself  supremely  blest, 
If  I  may  evermore  abide 
Loving,  beloved,  at  thy  side. 

While  we  have  to  treat  rather  of  hymns  than  of  hymn-writers  in 
dealing  with  the  Roman  Breviary,  there  is  much  of  personal  inter 
est  attaching  to  the  Breviary  of  Paris,  its  great  rival  in  hymnologi- 
cal  interest  A  slight  revision  of  the  hymns  of  this  Breviary  was 
effected  in  1527 — of  which  the  Urbs  Jerusalem  beata  is  a  type — 
and  only  with  the  idea  of  correcting  corruptions  of  the  text.  But 
the  Roman  revision  of  1568-1631  affected  the  Gallican  Church's 
services  very  slightly.  In  no  part  of  the  Roman  Catholic  world 
were  the  rights  of  the  national  Church  guarded  so  carefully  as  in 
France,  until  Napoleon  bargained  them  away  by  the  Concordat 
of  1801.  The  French  bishops  and  monastic  orders  continued  to 
retain  their  old  service-books  long  after  uniformity  had  been 
established,  under  plea  of  unity,  in  other  parts  of  the  Church  ; 
and  they  made  such  alterations  in  them  as  they  thought  necessary 
to  the  edification  of  their  people. 

It  was  the  Order  of  Cluny  which  first  took  steps  toward  the 
substitution  of  new  hymns  for  those  whose  use  had  been  sanc 
tioned  by  long  tradition.  The  general  chapter  of  that  branch  of 
the  great  Benedictine  family  in  1676-78  charged  Paul  Rabusson 
and  Claude  de  Vert  with  the  preparation  of  a  new  Breviary.  On 
Rabusson,  who  was  teaching  theology  in  the  monastery  of  St. 
Martin  des  Champs  in  Paris,  the  labor  chiefly  fell.  He  applied 
to  Claude  Santeul,  a  pensioner  of  the  ecclesiastical  seminary  at 
tached  to  the  Abbey  of  St.  Magloire,  asking  him  to  prepare  the 


THE  HYMN-WRITERS  OF   THE  BREVIARY.         329 

new  hymns.  Claude  Santeul  (Santolius  Maglorianus)  agreed  to 
do  so,  and  made  some  progress  in  the  work.  He  finished  six 
hymns,  which  were  inserted  in  the  new  Breviary,  and  at  his  death 
(1684)  he  left  two  manuscript  volumes  of  unfinished  hymns 
among  his  papers.  But  he  found  that  his  being  selected  had  ex 
cited  the  jealousy  of  his  younger  brother,  Jean  Santeul,  a  canon  of 
the  monastery  of  St.  Victor  (Santolius  Victorinus),  who  already 
was  recognized  as  the  finest,  but  by  no  means  the  most  edifying  of 
the  Latin  poets  of  the  France  of  his  time. 

Claude  gladly  gave  place  to  his  brother — who  was  accepted  by 
the  Cluny  Fathers— in  the  hope  that  the  work  of  writing  hymns 
would  divert  him  from  the  pagan  poetizing,  which  was  regarded 
as  unbecoming  to  his  cloth.  Jean  Santeul  is  the  oddest  figure  in 
the  annals  of  Latin  hymnology,  which  is  saying  a  good  deal.  He 
is  "  a  man  of  whom  it  is  hard  to  speak  without  falling  into  carica 
ture,"  Sainte-Beuve  says  (Causeries  de  Lundi,  XII.,  20-56).  He 
combined  the  talent  of  a  poet -of  nature's  making  with  the  sim 
plicity  of  a  child  and  the  vanity  and  wit  of  a  genuine  Frenchman. 
He  recalls  La  Fontaine  by  many  of  his  traits,  and.  under  the  name 
of  "  Theodas,"  he  has  furnished  La  Bruyere  with  the  materials 
for  one  of  the  cleverest  portraits  in  the  Caracttres  (1687).  His 
mode  of  life  was  a  scandal  to  De  Ranee  and  other  severe  Church 
men,  who  were  laboring  for  the  restoration  of  strict  monastic  dis 
cipline.  His  love  of  good  living  and  the  charm  of  his  society  and 
his  talk  carried  him  off  from  his  monastery  and  his  hours,  some 
times  for  weeks  together.  His  Latin  inscriptions,  which  adorned 
the  fountains,  bridges,  and  public  monuments  of  Paris,  at  once 
gave  him  recognition  as  the  poet  laureate  and  pensioner  of  the 
grande  monarque,  and  as  a  priest  whose  poetry  dealt  more  in  the 
pagan  deities  than  in  any  distinctively  Christian  references.  He 
was  not  an  immoral  man  in  any  gross  sense.  Even  as  a  ban 
vivanl,  he  does  not  seem  to  have  transgressed  what  were  recognized 
as  the  bounds  of  sobriety,  and  his  poetry  is  as  free  as  was  his  life 
from  licentiousness.  But  he  was  frivolous,  gay,  reckless,  and  as 
worldly  as  was  consistent  with  his  being  a  grown  up  child.  Every 
body,  even  severe  and  silent  De  Ranee  at  La  Trappe,  liked  him, 
but  everybody  shook  his  head  over  the  inconsistency  of  his  life 
with  his  monastic  vocation,  and  none  more  sorrowfully  than  his 
good  brother  Claude  at  St.  Magloire. 


330  LA  TIN  HYMNS. 

Now  at  last  there  seemed  to  be  the  opportunity  to  reclaim  him 
by  occupying  his  mind  and  his  art  with  serious  subjects,  and  by 
bringing  him  into  edifying  associations  with  good  men.  That  he 
was  not  enough  of  a  theologian  to  discharge  the  task  satisfactorily 
of  himself,  was  rather  an  advantage  from  this  point  of  view.  The 
eloquent  arid  learned  Jansenist,  Nicolas  le  Tourneux,  undertook 
the  work  of  coaching  him.  The  partnership  worked  reasonably 
well.  Of  course  hymns  produced  by  this  kind  of  division  of  labor, 
in  which  one  took  care  of  the  sense  and  another  of  the  expression, 
have  the  defects  of  their  method.  But  Le  Tourneux  was  as  care 
ful  of  the  poet  as  of  his  verse.  His  severe  eye  detected  the  play 
of  Santeul's  vanity  even  in  the  work  of  writing  hymns.  "  Reflect, 
my  dear  brother,"  he  wrote,  "  that  while  in  the  visible  and  mili 
tant  Church  one  may  sing  the  praises  of  God  with  an  impure  heart 
and  defiled  lips,  it  will  not  be  so  in  heaven.  You  have  burnt 
incense  in  your  verse,  but  there  was  strange  fire  in  the  censer. 
Vanity  furnishes  your  motive  where  it  ought  to  be  charity."  He 
objects  to  Santeul's  calling  himself  "the  poet  of  Jesus  Christ," 
while  he  admits  that  vain  glory  leads  him  to  write  hymns.  "  If 
you  and  I  were  all  we  ought  to  be,"  wrote  the  severe  Jansenist, 
"  we  would  quake  with  fear  at  having  dared,  you  to  sing  and  I  to 
preach  of  the  holiness  of  God,  without  a  right  sense  of  it.  We 
shall  be  only  too  happy  if  He  pardon  our  sermons  and  our  verses." 
Perhaps  the  severity  was  needed  and  did  good. 

So  Le  Tourneux  suggested  and  all  but  wrote  the  prayer  in 
which  Santeul  dedicated  his  hymns  to  our  Lord  :  "  Receive  what 
is  Thine  ;  forgive  what  is  mine.  Thine  is  whatever  I  have  uttered 
that  is  good  and  holy.  Mine  that  I  have  handled  Thy  good 
things  unworthily,  and  not  from  desire  to  please  Thee,  but  from 
an  undue  pride  of  poetry,  of  which  I  am  ashamed.  Thou  hast 
given  me  songs  to  praise  Thee.  Give  me  prayers,  give  me  tears 
to  wash  away  the  stains  of  a  life  less  than  Christian." 

His  hymns  must  have  circulated  in  manuscript  before  their 
publication,  for  we  find  De  Ranee  in  1683  praising  those  in  com 
memoration  of  St.  Bernard,  while  noticing  that  the  old  hymns,  if 
less  excellent  as  literature,  had  a  more  reverential  spirit.  In  1685, 
a  year  in  advance  of  the  new  Breviary,  Santeul  published  them  in 
.the  first  collection  he  made  of  them.  *  Their  merits  made  a  much 


*  Hymni  Sacri,  Paris,  1685  and  1694.     A  second  series  in  1698.     The 


THE  HYMN-WRITERS  OF   THE  BREVIARY.         331 

deeper  impression  than  their  defects.  Scholars  and  Churchmen 
alike  were  struck  by  their  rhetorical  vigor,  the  frequent  boldness 
of  their  conception,  the  beautiful  succession  of  sentiments  and 
images,  the  exquisite  clearness  of  the  sense,  and  not  by  the  facti 
tious  character  of  their  enthusiasm,  as  Sainte-Beuve  puts  it,  or  the 
frequent  monotony  in  the  treatment  of  cognate  themes.  The 
Breviary,  in  fact,  had  ceased  to  be  the  voice  of  the  Christian  con 
gregation.  The  supersession  of  Latin  by  the  national  languages 
of  Western  Europe  had  made  it  the  prayer-book  of  a  class  edu 
cated  to  relish  only  the  classic  forms  of  Latin  verse,  and  to  regard 
the  simplicity  of  the  early  hymn-writers  as  barbarous.  Santeul 
wrote  for  priests  whose  tastes  had  been  formed  on  Horace  and 
Virgil,  and  he  brought  into  these  rigid  forms  as  much  of  genuine 
Christian  feeling  and  doctrine  as  the  age  required.  He  was  all 
the  happier  in  these  respects,  as  Le  Tourneux,  who  himself  con 
tributed  to  the  new  Breviary,  was  of  that  Jansenist  school  in  which 
religion,  belittled  by  the  pettiness  and  the  casuistry  of  the  Jesuits, 
once  more  presented  itself  in  its  grandeur  and  its  severity. 

The  excellence  of  Santeul's  hymns  at  once  created  a  demand 
for  their  introduction  in  other  churches  and  dioceses,  and  for  his 
services  as  a  hymn-writer.  Several  of  the  best  were  introduced  by 
Archbishop  Harlay  into  the  later  editions  of  his  revised  Paris 
Breviary,  which  had  appeared  in  1680.  So  the  bishops  of  many 
other  French  dioceses— Rouen,  Sens,  Narbonne,  Massillon  of 
Clermont,  and  others — adopted  his  hymns  into  their  breviaries 
after  his  death.  And  as  he  gallantly  said,  he  had  the  pleasure 
while  still  living  of  hearing  them  "  sung  by  the  angels  at  Port 
Royal. ' '  Other  orders  begged  him  to  commemorate  their  founders 
and  their  especial  saints  ;  dioceses  and  churches  in  other  parts  of 

two  collections  together  in  1723.  They  are  included  in  the  editions  of 
his  works  which  appeared  in  1698  and  1729,  but  not  in  that  of  1694. 
Between  sixty  and  seventy  of  them  will  be  found  in  J.  H.  Newman's 
Hymni  Ecclesiae,  Part  First  (London,  1838  and  1865),  but  without  the 
author's  name.  As  Newman  omits  the  hymns  in  honor  of  the  saints  not 
mentioned  in  the  Scriptures,  the  fine  hymns  to  St.  Bernard,  St.  Augus 
tine,  and  St.  Judocus  are  not  included.  There  are  French  translations 
by  Abb6  Saurin,  1691  (third  edition,  1698),  and  by  J.  P.  C.  D.,  in  1760. 
For  English  translations  see  especially  Rev.  Isaac  Williams's  Hymns  of 
the  Parisian  Breviary  (1839),  and  J.  D.  Chambers's  Lauda  Syon  (1857), 
and  the  Lyra  Messianica  (1864). 


332  LATIN  HYMNS. 

France  invoked  his  good  offices.  Hence  it  is  that  of  his  two 
hundred  and  twenty-eight  hymns  not  one  in  five  is  occupied  with 
the  great  festivals  of  the  Church  year,  but  are  specific  or  general 
hymns  to  the  honor  of  the  saints,  martyrs,  and  doctors  of  the 
Church  of  France  especially. 

The  rush  of  popularity — not  unaccompanied  by  solid  rewards, 
for  the  good  fathers  of  the  Cluny  Order  gave  him  a  pension — 
seems  to  have  turned  Santeul's  not  very  well-balanced  head.  Le 
Tourneux's  admonitions  were  forgotten.  He  ran  from  church 
to  church  to  hear  his  hymns  sung,  and  scandalized  congregations 
by  his  demonstrations  of  delight  or  disgust  as  the  music  was  ap 
propriate  or  otherwise  ;  he  declaimed  them  in  all  sorts  of  places, 
suitable  and  unsuitable,  to  extort  the  admiration  he  loved  so 
dearly.  He  did  not  forget  to  tell  that  even  the  severe  De  Ranee 
had  written  from  La  Trappe  to  thank  him  for  his  hymn  on  St. 
Bernard,  but  that  for  his  own  part  he  valued  the  general  hymn  on 
the  Doctors  of  the  Church  above  any  other.  Naturally  he  had 
little  good  to  say  of  the  hymns  his  were  to  displace.  If  anything 
could  make  a  pagan  of  him,  it  would  be  the  bad  grammar  of 
those  old  monkish  poets,  who  sacrificed  sense  and  grammar  alike 
to  their  stupid  rhymes.  And  so  he  would  run  on  by  the  hour  to 
anybody  who  would  listen,  with  an  egotism  whose  very  childish 
ness  and  frankness  made  it  inoffensive. 

Of  course  he  claimed  the  distinction  of  being  the  best  Latin 
poet  in  France.  French  poetry  he  despised,  as  being  written  in  a 
language  incapable  of  the  terse  elegance  of  Latin.  But  in  Latin 
verse  he  would  hear  of  no  rival.  Du  Perier,  who  had  quite  as 
much  vanity,  with  only  a  fraction  of  his  genius,  challenged  his  pre 
tensions.  The  two  poets  wrote  verses  on  the  same  theme,  and 
then  set  out  to  find  an  arbiter.  The  first  friend  to  whom  they 
appealed  was  Manage,  who  evaded  the  responsibility  by  declaring 
them  equally  excellent  The  next  they  met  was  Racine.  He 
first  got  possession  of  the  stakes  and  deposited  them  in  the  poor's 
box  at  the  door  of  a  church  near  by,  and  then  gave  the  poets  a 
round  scolding  for  their  absurd  rivalry  ! 

The  hymns  of  Santeul  are  best  known  to  English  readers 
through  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern,  which  contain  some  very  fine 
versions,  original  and  selected.  Not  included  there  is  that  which 
Sainte  Beuve  pronounces  his  finest  hymn,  and  for  whose  retention 


THE  HYMN-WRITERS  OF    THE   BREVIARY,         333 

in  the  Breviary  he  pleads  against  the  crusaders,  who  in  the  name 
of  antiquity  insist  on  replacing  Santeul  and  Coffin  by  Strada  and 
Galucci.  Out  of  respect  for  the  greatest  of  modern  critics,  we  re 
print  it,  with  a  translation  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  A.  R.  Thompson. 
It  commemorates  the  Presentation  of  our  Lord  in  the  Temple. 

Stupete  gentes.  fit  Deus  hostia  : 
Se  sponte  leg!  Legifer  obligat  : 
Orbis  Redemptor  nunc  redemptus  : 
Seque  piat  sine  labe  mater. 

De  more  matrum,  Virgo  puerpera 
Templo  statutos  abstinuit  dies. 
Intrare  sanctam  quid  pavebas, 
Facta  Dei  prius  ipsa  templum  ? 

Ara  sub  una  se  vovit  hostia 
Triplex  :  honoretn  virgineum  immolat 
Virgo  sacerdos,  parva  mollis 
Membra  puer,  seniorque  vitam. 

Eheu  !  quot  enses  transadigent  tuum 
Pectus  !  quot  altis  nata  doloribus, 
O  Virgo  !  Quern  gestas,  cruentam 
Imbuet  hie  sacer  Agnus  aram. 

Christus  futuro,  corpus  adhuc  tener, 
Praeludit  insons  victima  funeri  : 
Crescet  ;  profuso  vir  cruore, 
Omne  scelus  moriens  piabit. 

Sit  summa  Patri,  summaque  Filio, 
Sanctoque  compar  gloria  Flamini  : 
Sanctae  litemus  Trinitati 
Perpetuo  pia  corda  cultu. 

Wonder,  ye  nations  !  divine  is  the  sacrifice. 

Lo,  his  own  law  the  Lawgiver  obeys  ! 
Now  the  Redeemer  redeemed  is,  and  purifies 

Herself  the  mother  pure.     Look  with  amaze  ! 

All  the  days  set  by  the  law  for  a  mother, 
She  from  the  temple  of  God  hath  delayed. 

Why  should  she  stay  without,  as  might  another, 
She  who  the  temple  of  God  hath  been  made  ? 


334  LATIN  HYMNS. 

At  the  one  altar  threefold  is  the  sacrifice. 

Mother,  who  offers  her  pure  virgin  heart ; 
Babe,  his  fair  body  that  in  her  fond  arms  lies  ; 

Aged  saint,  life,  ready  now  to  depart. 

Oh  but  what  sword  through  her  heart  shall  be  going  1 
Oh  to  what  sorrow  is  born  her  fair  child  ! 

Over  what  altar  his  blood  will  be  flowing  ! 
He  whom  she  bears,  the  Lamb  holy  and  mild. 

Christ,  in  his  infantile  body  so  tender, 
Spotless  in  purity,  here  hath  foreshown, 

Sign  of  the  sacrifice  he  shall  yet  render, 
Dying  the  sin  of  the  world  to  atone. 

Now  to  the  Father  in  glory  supernal, 

Now  to  the  Son.  and  the  Spirit  above, 
Now  to  the  Triune,  all  holy,  eternal, 

Worship  be  ever  in  faith  and  in  love  ! 

As  a  poet  Santeul  fell  from  grace  in  1689,  when  he  fell  back  on 
his  pagan  divinities  in  a  poem  addressed  to  the  keeper  of  the  royal 
gardens.  Bossuet  made  a  great  ado  over  it,  but  Fenelon  and  others 
judged  him  more  gently.  Next  year  he  goes  to  see  La  Trappe, 
and  writes  a  fine  poem  on  Holy  Solitude  (Sancta  Soliludo),  which 
extorted  fresh  praise  from  De  Ranee,  and  afterward  irom  Sainte- 
Beuve.  But  four  years  later  he  got  into  the  worst  scrape  of  his 
life  by  a  flattering  epitaph  on  the  great  Arnauld,  who  died  in 
1694.  Santeul  always  had  been  more  or  less  associated  with  the 
Jansenist  party,  a  fact  which  was  not  forgotten  when  his  hymns 
were  expelled  from  the  churches  of  France  in  our  own  century. 
There  is  preserved  an  account  of  a  visit  he  paid  to  Port  Royal,  in 
which  he  chattered  to  the  nuns  with  equal  freedom  of  his  own 
hymns  and  of  their  virtues.  But  he  was  not  of  the  stuff  of  which 
martyrs  are  made.  The  Jesuits  had  the  king's  ear,  and  he  was  a 
pensioner  of  the  king's  bounty.  They  assailed  him  for  his  eulogy 
of  the  arch- Jansenist,  and  threatened  him  with  the  disfavor  of 
Louis  XIV.  ;  and  he  hastened  to  make  amends  in  a  poetical 
epistle,  of  which  he  made  two  copies.  By  the  adroit  change  of 
the  tense  of  a  single  word  he  made  the  copy  for  the  Jesuits  retract 
his  praises  of  his  great  friend,  while  that  for  the  general  public  did 
nothing  of  the  sort.  As  a  consequence  he  came  off  with  no  credit 


THE  HYMN-WRITERS  OF    THE  BREVIARY.         335 

on  either  side.  Both  Jesuits  and  Jansenists  resented  his  duplicity, 
and  a  fine  shower  of  squibs  and  pamphlets  fell  on  him  from  both 
the  hostile  forces,  until  he  was  forced  to  cry  for  quarter,  and 
Bourdaloue  made  his  peace. 

He  died  in  1697  in  Burgundy,  whither  he  had  accompanied 
the  younger  Conde  to  the  meeting  of  the  Estates.  St.  Simon  has 
told  a  very  unpleasant  story  of  the  cause  of  his  death.  He  ascribes 
it  to  Conde' s  having  made  him  drink  a  bowl  of  wine  into  which 
he  had  emptied  his  snuff-box,  "just  to  see  what  would  come  of 
it."  But  the  prince  of  scandalmongers  has  been  disproven  on 
this  point.  Santeul's  death  was  due  to  no  such  cause,  but  to  an 
inflammation  of  the  bowels  and  to  the  malpractice  of  his  doctors, 
who  gave  him  emetics  under  the  false  impression  that  he  was 
suffering  from  a  surfeit.  He  made  a  good  end,  dying  with  resig 
nation,  and  begging  pardon  for  the  scandal  his  life  had  caused. 

His  hymns  were  not  without  their  critics  in  his  own  age.  Jean 
Baptiste  Thiers,  a  parish  priest  of  great  learning  and  bad  temper, 
assailed  the  Breviary  of  Cluny  (in  his  Commentarii  de  novo  Breviario 
Cluniacensi,  Brussels,  1702),  and  did  not  spare  Santeul's  hymns, 
which  he  declared  to  be  much  inferior  to  those  which  had  come 
down  from  the  earlier  days  of  the  Church.  He  declared  that 
Santeul  had  a  greater  abundance  of  words  than  of  sense,  that  he 
had  almost  no  powers  of  thought,  and  that  some  of  his  images, 
such  as  that  in  which  he  wreathes  a  garland  of  stones  for  the 
martyr  Stephen,  were  simply  ridiculous.  He  was  answered  not 
by  Rabusson,  but  by  his  associate,  Claude  de  Vert,  after  what 
fashion  I  do  not  know. 


It  was  in  1736  that  the  Breviary  of  the  Diocese  of  Paris  was 
published  in  its  third  and  final  revision  by  a  commission  of  three 
ecclesiastics  :  Frangois-Antoine  Vigier,  Fran9ois-Philippe  Mesen- 
gui,  and  Charles  Coffin.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  second 
belonged  to  that  Jansenist  party  in  the  Church  wnich  the  relentless 
efforts  of  the  Pope,  the  hierarchy,  and  the  kings  of  France  had  not 
been  able  to  exterminate.  Archbishop  de  Vintimille  was  as  eager 
to  accomplish  that  as  his  predecessors  had  been,  and  he  was  ably 
seconded  by  that  pious  and  orthodox  prince,  Louis  XV.  But 
this  revision,  like  that  of  1670-80,  was  a  concession  to  the  histor 
ical  criticism  which  the  Jansenists  had  brought  to  bear  upon  the 


336  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Church  books  both  as  to  the  legends  of  the  saints  and  the  extrava 
gances  of  the  growing  devotion  to  the  Mother  of  our  Lord.  Mes- 
engui  had  been  dismissed  from  the  post  Coffin  had  given  him  in 
the  University  of  Paris  for  his  opposition  to  the  bull  Unigenitus, 
which  condemned  Quesnel's  Jansenist  Reflections  on  the  New  Testa 
ment.  Coffin's  sympathies  lay  in  the  same  direction. 

Charles  Coffin  is  the  man  of  the  three  who  chiefly  concerns  us 
here.  Born  at  Buzancy,  hard  by  Rheims,  in  1676,  he  very  early 
distinguished  himself  as  a  Latin  poet  and  an  educator.  He  grad 
uated  at  Paris  in  1701,  and  became  a  teacher  in  the  College  of 
Dormans-Beauvais,  and  then  its  principal  in  1713.  Five  years 
later  he  was  chosen  to  succeed  Rollin  as  Rector  of  the  University 
of  Paris.  He  at  once  showed  his  force  of  character  by  revolution 
izing  the  relation  of  the  university  to  the  public  through  abolish 
ing  the  fees  exacted  of  the  students.  To  replace  them  he  extended 
and  developed  the  system  of  posts  and  messages,  which  the  univer 
sity  had  established  in  the  thirteenth  century  and  which  coexisted 
with  the  post-office  system  of  the  government,  of  which  it  was  the 
forerunner.  He  devoted  its  revenues  to  the  support  of  the  colleges. 
He  must  have  been  a  character  of  great  administrative  capacity,  as 
his  plans  had  entire  success,  and  probably  did  much  to  foster  the 
development  of  the  post-office  system  of  France.  After  remaining 
rector  for  three  years,  he  went  back  to  his  place  at  the  head  of  the 
Dormans-Beauvais  College,  and  remained  there  till  his  death. 

It  was  in  1727  that  Charles  Coffin  published  his  first  volume  of 
Latin  poetry.  The  most  notable  piece  in  the  collection  was  a  fine 
ode  in  praise  of  Champagne.  So  much  were  the  people  of  the 
Champagne  country  pleased  with  it,  that  they  sent  him  a  hamper 
of  every  vintage  as  long  as  he  lived,  which  was  twenty-two  years. 
He  also  had  a  hand  in  carrying  Cardinal  de  Polignac's  great  poem, 
Anti- Lucretius,  to  the  state  of  completeness  in  which  it  was  given 
to  the  public  in  1745,  three  years  after  its  author's  death.  He 
undertook  the  work  of  revising  the  old  hymns  and  preparing  ne\v 
with  great  reluctance,  yielding  only  to  the  entreaties  of  the  arch 
bishop. 

It  was  in  1736  that  the  Breviary  Commission  finished  their 
labors  and  the  archbishop  gave  to  the  diocese  the  new  Breviary, 
which  was  adopted  by  more  than  fifty  French  dioceses.  Its  gen 
eral  character  does  not  concern  us  here.  It  is  with  its  hymns 


THE  HYMN-WRITERS  OF    THE  BREVIARY.         337 

alone  we  have  to  do.  About  seventy  of  the  primitive  and  med 
iaeval  hymns  still  held  their  place  in  the  Breviary  of  1680,  nearly 
half  of  them  the  work  of  Ambrose  and  his  school.  The  revisers 
spared  very  few  of  these.  Only  twenty-one  hymns  of  the  earlier 
period  were  left,  while  eighty-five  of  Jean  Santeul's,  nearly  a  hun 
dred  by  Coffin  himself — including  some  recasts  of  old  hymns — 
and  ninety  seven  by  other  authors,  chiefly  Frenchmen  of  later 
date,  were  inserted.  There  were  eleven  by  Guillaume  de  la 
Brunetiere,  a  friend  of  Bossuet's  ;  six  each  by  Claude. Santeul, 
Nicolas  le  Tourneux,  and  Sebastian  Besnault,  a  priest  of  Sens  ; 
five  by  Isaac  Habert,  Bishop  of  Vabres  ;  four  by  the  Jesuit  Jean 
Commire  ;  two  each  by  the  Jesuit  Francis  Guyet  and  Simon 
Gourdan  of  the  Abbey  of  St.  Victor  ;  one  each  by  Marc  Antoine 
Muretus,  Denis  Petau,  and  Guillaume  du  Plessis  de  Geste  ;  one 
(or  three)  by  M.  Combault,  a  young  friend  of  Charles  Coffin's. 
This  was  modernism  with  a  vengeance  !  New  hymns  were  nearly 
thirteen  to  one  in  proportion  to  those  from  the  great  storehouse 
of  the  ages  before  the  Reformation.  It  is  not  wonderful  that  so 
extreme  a  policy  called  forth  a  reaction  as  soon  as  the  Romanti 
cist  movement,  with  its  juster  appreciation  of  the  Middle  Ages,  had 
reached  France.  But  by  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
old  Latin  hymns  were  banished  practically  from  France. 

As  compared  with  Jean  Santeul,  Charles  Coffin  displays  much  less 
poetic  audacity  than  his  predecessor.  You  do  not  feel  that  poetry 
filled  the  same  place  in  his  intellectual  existence,  or  that  he  was 
under  the  same  necessity  to  write  it.  He  has  less  genius,  but  a 
great  talent  for  verse.  And — what  the  critics  of  that  age  valued 
the  most — he  was  more  correct  in  his  handling  of  the  vocabulary 
and  the  metre  of  Latin  versification.  Santeul  found  classic  Latin, 
much  as  he  admired  it,  something  of  a  fetter  to  the  free  movement 
of  his  genius.  It  was  a  dead  language  he  was  trying  to  put  in 
tense  life  into — an  old  bottle  for  his  new  wine — and  at  times  the 
bottle  burst.  Just  because  Charles  Coffin's  wine  is  not  so  new, 
his  inspiration  not  so  fresh,  the  bottle  holds  out  better.  And 
then  he  had  the  greater  advantage  of  a  closer  familiarity  with  the 
ideas  he  wished  to  embody  in  his  hymns,  and  with  their  sources 
in  the  Scriptures,  and  a  more  practical  capacity  for  the  applica 
tion  of  his  powers  to  the  object  in  hand.  His  hymns  are  always 
in  place  ;  they  are  hymns  of  the  Breviary,  not  brilliant  poems  on 


338  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Breviary  subjects  by  a  poet  writing  for  glory.  I  do  not  say  that 
Charles  Coffin  was  the  better  man  ;  God  only  knows  ;  and  I  must 
confess  to  a  liking  for  "  the  gay  canon  of  St.  Victor"  which  the 
rector  of  the  university  does  not  inspire  in  me.  There  is  a  Burns- 
like  humanity  in  him  and  his  harmless  vanities  which  wins  our 
love  still,  as  it  did  that  of  his  contemporaries.  But  Charles 
Coffin  had  a  certain  suitableness  to  his  work  which  Jean  Santeul 
lacked.  He  was  an  eminently  dignified,  respectable,  and  useful 
character,  who  impressed  himself  upon  a  whole  generation  of 
young  Frenchmen,  many  of  whom  rose  to  eminence  at  the  bar,  in 
the  public  service,  and  even  in  the  army.  They  all  looked  back 
to  him  with  great  respect.  I  wonder  if  they  loved  him  as  Mark 
Hopkins  and  George  Allen  are  loved  by  those  who  studied  under 
them.  And  in  Charles  Coffin's  hymns  you  meet  the  same  admir 
able  traits  as  in  his  public  work.  He  is  a  man  of  enlightenment, 
dignity,  devoutness,  and  eminent  usefulness,  without  a  touch  of 
Rabelaisian  abandon  to  remind  you  of  Beranger's  saying  :  "  All 
we  Franfais  are  children  of  the  great  Fran9ois."  Of  that  he  re 
minds  you  only  in  his  sparkling,  effervescent  ode  to  Champagne, 
in  reply  to  Benigne  Grenan's  overpraise  of  Burgundy.  It  was  to 
be  expected  that  when  the  advocates  of  liturgical  uniformity  made 
their  attack  upon  the  Paris  Breviary,  beginning  with  Gueranger's 
Institutions  Liturgiques  (1840-42),  it  was  Santeul  whom  they 
especially  attacked,  although  not  he  but  Coffin  was  responsible 
for  its  hymnology. 

Charles  Coffin's  hymns  have  a  high  level  of  excellence,  which 
makes  it  difficult  to  anthologize  among  them.  Certainly  not 
the  worst  are  the  four  Advent  hymns  (Instantis  advenlum  Dei ; 
Jordanis  oras  praevia  ;  Staluta  decreto  Dei  ;  and  In  noctis  umbra 
desides)  ;  that  for  Christmas  (Jam  desinant  suspiria)  and  the  Vesper 
hymn  (O  luce  qui  mortalibus)  ;  the  Passion  hymn  (Opprobriis  Jesu 
satur ) ;  the  fine  series  of  seven  hymns  for  the  nocturn  services 
throughout  the  week,  based  on  the  seven  days  of  Creation  ;  and 
the  hymn  for  Epiphany  (Quae  stella  sole  pulchrior).  These  and 
most  of  his  acknowledged  hymns  are  known  to  us  in  the  transla 
tions  of  Williams,  Chandler,  and  Mant,  and  several  of  these  are  in 
Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern. 

As  an  editor  he  altered  and  even  tinkered,  as  well  as  adapted 
and  wrote  hymns.  Even  Jean  Santeul  did  not  escape  his  hand. 


THE  HYMN-WRITERS  OF   THE  BREVIARY.        339 

One  of  the  hymns  ascribed  to  him  in  the  Paris  Breviary  is  a  cento 
from  no  less  than  twelve  of  his  own  hymns.  From  the  wrath  he 
showed  when  such  changes  were  made  in  his  lifetime,  we  may 
infer  that  he  would  have  liked  this  as  little  as  did  John  Wesley. 
And  the  older  hymns  were  handled  in  the  same  way.  A  good 
example  of  Charles  Coffin's  method  of  recasting  old  hymns  is  fur 
nished  by  his  version  of  the  Ad  coenam  Agni providi,  which  already 
has  been  given  in  its  original  shape  and  in  that  of  the  Roman 
Breviary.  With  these  the  reader  may  compare  Coffin's  revision, 
which  will  be  seen  to  vary  very  widely  from  the  old  text  of  the 
ninth  century  : 

Forti  tegente  brachio, 

Evasimus  Rubrum  mare, 

Tandem  durum  perfidi 

Jugum  tyranni  fregimus. 

Nunc  ergo  laetas  vindici 
Grates  rependamus  Deo  ; 
Agnique  mensam  candidis 
Cingamus  ornati  stolis. 

Hujus  sacrato  corpore, 
Amoris  igne  fervidi, 
Vescamur  atque  sanguine  : 
Vescendo,  vivimus  Deo. 

Jam  Pascha  nostrum  Christus  est. 
Hie  agnus,  haec  est  victim  a 
Cruore  cujus  illitos 
Transmittit  ultor  angelus. 

O  digna  coelo  victima, 
Mors  ipsa  per  quam  vincitur, 
Per  quam  refractis  infer! 
Praedam  relaxant  postibus. 

Christi  sepulchri  faucibus 
Emersus  ad  lucem  redit  ; 
Hostem  retrudit  tartaro, 
Coelique  pandit  intima. 

Da  Chrtste,  nos  tecum  mori 
Tecum  simul  da  surgere  : 
Terrena  da  contemnere  ; 
A  mare  da  coelestia. 


LATIN  HYMNS. 


It  will  be  observed  that  while  the  ideas,  and  even  to  some  extent 
the  phraseology  of  the  old  hymn  are  retained  in  the  first  six  verses, 
their  order  is  so  changed  as  to  suggest  that  we  have  an  original 
hymn  before  us,  if  we  do  not  look  closely.  But  the  last  verse  is 
altogether  different.  The  old  poet  prayed  that  the  paschal  joy 
might  be  made  unending  through  the  deliverance  of  the  regener 
ate  from  the  death  eternal.  The  modern  prays  that  we  may  share 
mystically  in  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  learn 
thereby  to  set  our  affections  on  things  above.  Similar  are  his  re 
casts  of  the  Salvete  flores  Marlyrum  of  Prudentius,  and  the  Am- 
brosian  Jam  lucis  orto  sidere. 

Mr.  Duffield  has  left  only  one  completed  version  of  a  hymn 
from  the  Paris  Breviary,  and  that  one  whose  authorship  I  am  un 
able  to  determine.  It  attracted  him  as  one  of  the  surprisingly  few 
hymns  in  which  the  comparison  of  the  Christian  life  to  a  warfare, 
so  frequently  used  by  our  Lord  and  the  Apostle  Paul,  is  employed 
as  a  leading  idea.  His  interest  in  such  hymns  no  doubt  was  first 
awakened  by  his  father's  admirable  and  popular  one  : 


"  Stand  up,  stand  up  for  Jesus," 

suggested  by  the  dying  words  of  Dudley  Tyng. 
Latin  and  his  English  version  : 


We  give  both  the 


Pugnate,  Christi  milites, 
Fortes  fide  resistite : 
Immensa  promisit  Deus 
Pio  labori  praemia. 

Non  ille  fluxas  ac  leves 
Palmas  dabit  vincentibus  ; 
Sed  lucis  acternae  decus, 
Et  pura  semper  gaudia. 

Mentes  beatas  exciptt 
Formosa  coelitum  domus  : 
Hie  turba,  coelis  altior, 
Subjecta  calcat  sidera. 

Caduca  vobis  praemia 
Offert  levis  mundi  favor  : 
Vultus  ad  astra  tollite  ; 
Hie  ipse  fit  merces  Deus. 

Qui  nos  coronal,  laus  Patri, 
Laus  qui  redemit,  Filio  ; 
Alma  juvans  nos  gratia, 
Sit  par  tibi  laus,  Spiritus. 


Fight  on,  ye  Christian  soldiers. 
And  bravely  keep  the  faith, 

For  great  reward  shall  follow, 
As  God's  own  promise  satth. 

Not  palms  that  wave  and  flutter 
Shall  be  the  victor's  crown, 

But  grace  of  light  eternal, 
And  joy  of  pure  renown. 

That  blessed  heavenly  mansion 
Shall  take  each  happy  soul ; 

Their  throng,  high  raised  in  glory. 
Shall  tread  the  starry  pole. 

Earth's  honor  is  but  failing, 
Her  gifts  are  light  as  air; 

Lift  up  your  eyes  to  heaven, 
For  God's  reward  is  there. 

Praise  God,  who  crowns  the  battle, 
And  Christ,  who  comes  to  save, 

And  praise  the  Holy  Spirit, 
Whose  grace  our  spirits  crave. 


THE  HYMN-WRITERS  OF    THE  BREVIARY.         341 

By  kindness  of  Dr.  A.  R.  Thompson  we  add  two  translations 
from  Charles  Coffin's  hymns  : 

QUA   STELLA   SOLE   PULCHRIOR. 

What  star  is  this  whose  glorious  light 

Outshines  the  morn, 
The  herald  of  the  King  new-born  ! 

Its  radiance  bright, 

A  heavenly  sign, 
Streams  o'er  the  cradle  of  the  Babe  divine. 

Faith,  standing  with  the  prophets  old, 

Sees  down  the  skies 
The  promised  Star  from  Jacob  rise. 

The  sign  foretold 

She  knows  full  well, 
And  straightway  seeks  the  wondrous  spectacle. 

The  lustrous  star  gives  warning  fair 

To  all  the  earth, 
But  chiefly  men  of  Eastern  birth. 

With  pious  care, 

The  warning  heed, 
And   seeking  Christ  upon  their  journey  speed. 

Their  eager  love  knows  no  delay  ; 

Danger  nor  toil 
Their  purpose  resolute  can  foil. 

They  haste  away 

From  home  and  kind, 
And  country,  at  God's  call,  the  Christ  to  find. 

O  Christ  our  Lord,  thy  star  of  grace 

Leads  us  to  thee  ! 
Help  these  dull  hearts  of  ours  to  be 

First  at  the  place, 

Intent  to  prove 
To  thee,  O  Lord,  our  faith  and  hope  and  love. 

LABENTE  JAM   SOLIS. 

Now  with  the  declining  sun, 
Day  to  night  is  passing  on. 
So  doth  mortal  life  descend 
Swiftly  to  its  destined  end. 


34*  LATIN  HYMNS. 

From  the  cross,  thine  arms  spread  wide 
Fold  the  world,  O  Crucified  ! 
Help  us  love  the  cross.     In  thy 
Dear  embrace  help  us  to  die  ! 

Glory  to  the  Eternal  One, 
Glory  to  the  only  Son, 
Glory  to  the  Spirit  be, 
Now  and  through  eternity. 

Of  the  other  writers  of  the  Breviary  only  a  few  need  detain  us. 
Most  of  them  are  poets  of  the  conventional  sort,  whose  verse  evi 
dences  the  care  taken  with  their  education  rather  than  their  posses 
sion  of  any  native  genius,  although  Jean  Commire  (1625-1702) 
was  of  wide  reputation  in  his  day.  Even  of  good  Claude 
Santeul  the  best  that  can  be  said  is  that  several  of  his  hymns  have 
passed  for  the  composition  of  his  brother,  and  that  the  two  Trinity 
hymns  (Ter  sancte,  ter  poiens  Deus  and  0  luce  quae  tua  lates)  and 
the  three  on  Lazarus  (Redditum  luce,  Domino  vocante,  Pandilur  saxo 
tumulus  remote,  and  Intrante  Chrislo  Beihanicam  domuni)  deserve  the 
honor.  They  make  us  regret  the  loss  of  these  two  manuscript 
volumes.  An  unfinished  translation  of  one  of  these,  left  by  Mr. 
Duffield,  has  been  completed  for  us  by  Dr.  A.  R.  Thompson. 
The  asterisk  marks  the  transition  from  the  one  translator  to  the 
other — 

O   LUCE   QUAE  TUA   LATES. 

O  hidden  by  the  very  light, 

O  ever-blessed  Trinity, 
Thee  we  confess,  and  thee  believe, 

With  pious  heart  we  long  for  thee  ! 

O  Holy  Father  of  the  saints, 

O  God  of  very  God,  the  Son, 
O  Bond  of  Love,  the  Holy  Ghost, 

Who  joinest  all  the  Three  in  One  ! 

That  God  the  Father  might  behold 

Himself,  *coeval  was  the  Son  ; 
Also  the  Love  that  binds  them  both  ; 

So,  God  of  God,  the  perfect  One. 

Complete  the  Father  in  the  Son, 

The  Son,  the  Father  in  complete, 
And  the  full  Spirit  in  them  both  ; 

The  Father,  Son,  and  Paraclete. 


THE  HYMN-WRITERS  OF   THE  BREVIARY.         343 

As  is  the  Son,  the  Spirit  is. 

Each  as  the  Father,  verily. 
The  Three,  One  all  transcendent  Truth, 

One  all  transcendent  Love,  the  Three. 

Father,  and  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost 

Eternally,  let  all  adore  ; 
Who  liveth  and  who  reigneth,  God, 

Ages  on  ages,  evermore  ! 

Next  we  have  Nicolas  le  Tourneux  (1640-1686),  the  severe 
Jansenist,  whose  preaching  drew  such  crowds  in  Paris  that  the  King 
asked  the  reason.  "Sire,"  replied  Boileau,  "your  Majesty 
knows  how  people  run  after  novelty  ;  this  is  a  preacher  who 
preaches  the  Gospel.  When  he  mounts  the  pulpit,  he  frightens 
you  by  his  ugliness,  so  that  you  wish  he  would  leave  it ;  and 
when  he  begins  to  speak,  you  are  afraid  that  he  may. ' '  It  was  his 
Annee  Chrtiienne  which  suggested  the  Christian  Year  to  John 
Keble.  We  have  seen  how  he  coached  Jean  Santeul  both  as  to 
the  matter  of  his  hymns  and  the  right  spirit  for  a  Christian  poet 
But  the  great  preacher' sown  hymns  are  sermoni propriores,  "  prop- 
erer  for  a  sermon,"  to  borrow  Lamb's  mistranslation.  Verse  was 
a  fetter  to  him,  not  a  wing.  His  best  are  the  Ascension  hymn, 
Adeste,  Coelitum  chori,  and  that  on  the  Baptist,  Jussu  tyranni  pro 
fide.  The  former  we  give  in  the  excellent  translation  of  Rev.  A. 
R.  Thompson,  D.D.  : 

ADESTE  CCELITUM   CHORI. 

Hither  come,  ye  choirs  immortal, 

Singing  joyful  canticles  ! 
Christ  hath  passed  the  grave's  dark  portal, 

With  the  dead  no  more  he  dwel's. 

All  in  vain  doth  malice  station 

Watchful  guards  the  tomb  before, 
All  in  vain  the  faithless  nation 

Sets  the  seal  upon  the  door. 

Fruitless  terror,  from  this  prison 

None  have  stolen  him  away, 
But  by  his  own  strength  arisen, 

Victor,  ends  he  death's  dread  fray. 


344  LATIN  HYMNS. 

Prisoned,  and  the  seal  unbroken, 

He  can  leave  at  will  the  tomb, 
As  at  first — behold  the  token  — 

He  could  leave  the  Virgin's  womb. 

When  he  on  the  tree  hung  dying. 

Raving  men,  who  round  him  stood, 
"  Come  down  from  the  cross,"  were  crying. 
"  Then  we  own  thee  Son  of  God." 

But,  his  Father's  will  obeying 

Even  unto  death,  he  dies  ; 
Priest  and  Victim,  'tis  the  slaying 

Of  the  world's  great  Sacrifice. 

Nay,  the  cross  was  not  forsaken  ; 

Dead,  yet  greater  thing  did  he, 
By  himself,  his  life  retaken 

Proved  him  Son  of  God  to  be. 

With  thee  dying,  with  thee  rising, 

Grant,  O  Christ,  that  we  may  be. 
Earthly  vanities  despising, 

Choosing  heaven  all  lovingly  ! 

Praise  be  to  the  Father  given. 

To  the  Son,  our  Leader.     He 
Calleth  us  with  him  to  heaven  ; 

Spirit,  equal  praise  to  thee  ! 

A  man  of  very  different  powers  is  the  Abbe  Sebastian  Besnault, 
of  whom  nothing  is  told  us  except  that  he  was  chaplain  of  the 
parish  of  St.  Maurice  in  Sens,  and  died  in  1726.  The  six  hymns 
ascribed  to  him  in  the  Paris  Breviary  are  among  the  finest  in  that 
collection.  Three  are  hymns  on  the  Circumcision  (Debilis  cessent 
elementa  legis  j  Felix  dies,  quam  proprio  ;  and  Noxium  Christus  simul 
introivit)  •  one  is  an  Ascension  hymn  (Promissa,  iellus,  concipe 
gaudium),  and  two  are  Dedication  hymns  (Ecce  sedes  hie  Tonan- 
lis  and  Urbs  beata,  vera  pacts),  the  latter  being  a  recast  of  the 
Urbs  beata  Hierusalem.  Quite  justly  does  A.  Gazier  (in  his  thesis 
De  Sanlolii  Victorini  Sacris  Hymnis,  Paris,  1875)  say  that  if  Bes 
nault  equalled  Jean  Santeul  in  the  volume  of  his  hymns,  he  would 
not  rank  below  him  as  a  sacred  poet,  since  he  quite  equals  him 
in  his  Latinity  and  is  his  superior  as  a  spiritual  writer.  We  give 


THE  HYMN-WRITERS  OF    THE  BREVIARY.         345 

Dr.   A.   R.    Thompson's  version  of  his  recast  of  the  Urbs  beaia 
Hierusalem  : 

URBS   BEATA,  VERA    PACIS. 

Blessed  city,  vision  true 

Of  sweet  peace,  Jerusalem, 
How  majestic  to  the  view 

Rise  thy  lofty  walls,  in  them 
Living  stones  in  beauty  stand, 
Polished,  set,  by  God's  own  hand. 

Every  several  gate  of  thine 

Of  one  pearl  effulgent  is, 
Golden  fair  thy  wall  doth  shine. 

Blended  lustrously  with  this, 
And  thy  wall  doth  rest  alone 
Upon  Christ  the  Corner-stone. 

Thy  sun  is  the  martyred  Lamb, 

God  thy  temple.     Angels  vie 
With  the  saints,  a  joyful  psalm 

Ever  lifting  up  on  high, 
And  the  Holiest  worshipping. 
Holy,  Holy,  Holy  sing. 

Evermore  stand  open  wide, 

Heavenly  city,  all  thy  gates. 
But,  who  would  in  thee  abide, 

Who  thy  walls  to  enter  waits. 
Must,  that  meed  of  life  to  win, 
Agonize  to  conquer  sin. 

To  the  Father,  to  the  Son, 

Endless  adoration  be  ! 
Spirit,  binding  both  in  One, 

Endless  worship  unto  thee  ! 
Hallowed  by  thy  chrism  divine. 
We  become  thy  living  shrine. 

Along  with  Coffin  should  be  named  one  of  his  friends,  a  young 
advocate  named  Combault,  who  possessed  something  of  the  spirit 
and  energy  of  Jean  Santeul.  How  far  he  contributed  to  the 
Breviary  of  1736  I  am  unable  to  say,  but  a  well-founded  tradition 
designates  him  as  the  author  of  a  splendid  rhetorical  hymn  in 
commemoration  of  the  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul  (Tandem  laborum 


346  LATIN  HYMNS. 

gloriosi  Principes),   which  has  been  much   admired.     Combault 
died  in  1785. 

The  whole  impression  which  this  school  of  hymn-writers  makes 
upon  us  is  like  that  of  the  Greco- French  architecture  of  our  own 
age.  Both  reflect  the  critical  and  useful,  but  somewhat  exclusive 
spirit  of  the  Renaissance.  Both  are  capable  of  fine  effects,  great 
structural  beauty,  and  a  certain  grandeur  not  of  the  highest  order 
But  a  Greco-French  church  will  not  bear  comparison  with  Notre 
Dame  ;  and  the  hymns  of  Santeul  and  Coffin  will  hardly  better 
endure  a  comparison  with  the  Christian  singers  who  wrote  when 
Notre  Dame  was  new. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE    UNKNOWN    AND    THE    LESS    KNOWN    HYMN-WRITERS. 

[FOURTH  TO  TENTH  CENTURY.] 

THE  known  is  but  a  fragment  broken  from  the  unknown.  This 
is  eminently  true  as  regards  the  authorship  of  the  Latin  hymns. 
When  we  have  dealt  as  tenderly  as  the  historical  conscience  will 
permit  with  the  traditions  which  assign  hymns  to  this  and  that 
author,  we  still  find  ourselves  unable  to  affix  any  name  to  the 
great  majority.  And  while  it  is  true  that  the  most  part  of  the  very 
great  hymns  are  not  left  in  this  plight  of  anonymity,  it  is  true  that 
no  small  number  of  the  best  are  on  the  record  like  Melchizedek 
— ' '  without  father  or  mother, ' '  and  many  of  them  also  ' '  without 
beginning  of  years,"  for  we  can  determine  only  approximately  the 
century  of  their  origin.  Nor  is  this  at  all  surprising.  Fame  was 
neither  the  object  nor  the  expectation  of  the  writers  of  the  Latin 
hymns  of  the  early  and  Middle  Ages.  Their  utmost  expectation, 
probably,  was  to  be  valued  a  little  by  their  brethren  in  their  own 
and  their  sister  monasteries  as  the  author  of  a  fine  sequence  or  an 
appropriate  hymn  for  a  yearly  festival.  It  was  enough  for  that 
purpose  that  the  report  of  their  authorship  passed  from  mouth  to 
mouth  in  the  choir,  without  any  record  made  of  it.  The  love  of 
glory  as  a  literary  motive,  came  in,  as  Mr.  Symonds  reminds  us, 
with  the  Renaissance,  which  borrowed  it  from  the  old  pagans. 
Many  a  devout  singer  of  the  centuries  before  that  practised  the 
wisdom  of  a  Kempis's  saying,  Ama  nesciri,  "  Love  to  be  un 
known."  They  wrote  not  for  gain  in  renown,  but  for  use  in  the 
edification  of  their  brethren  and  of  the  Church.  And  to  live  for 
use  rather  than  gain  is  to  live  Christianly,  for,  as  Swedenborg  says, 
"  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  a  kingdom  of  uses." 

This  and  the  next  chapter  we  shall  give  partly  to  some  of  these 
orphaned  hymns,  touching  only  on  the  greatest.  And  as  we  come 
down  the  centuries  we  shall  speak  also  of  the  less  notable  hymn- 


348  LATIN  HYMNS. 

writers,  some  of  them  not  less  notable  as  men  or  as  Churchmen, 
but  such  as  have  made  less  of  a  mark  in  hymnology. 

At  the  outset  we  are  met  by  two  of  the  greatest  of  the  sacred 
songs  of  the  Church,  which  are  none  the  less  hymns  although 
classed  technically  as  canticles.  Who  wrote  the  Gloria  in  Excelsis 
and  the  Te  Deum  laudamus  ?  As  everybody  knows,  the  opening 
words  of  the  former  are  the  song  of  the  angels  who  brought  the 
good  news  to  the  shepherds — words  which  authenticate  their 
heavenly  origin  by  their  simplicity,  beauty,  and  force — "  a  master- 
song,"  as  Luther  says,  "  which  neither  grew  nor  was  made  on 
earth,  but  came  down  from  heaven."  But  the  much  longer  sup 
plement,  which  evidently  reflects  the  situation  of  the  Church  in 
the  days  of  the  Arian  controversy,  must  either  have  originated  in 
the  fourth  century  and  in  the  East,  or  must  have  been  altered  to 
adapt  it  to  that  time.  The  original  still  exists  in  Greek,  but  in 
three  forms,  which  differ  somewhat ;  and  the  Latin  version  is  de 
fective  in  that  it  follows  a  later  form  than  that  which  is  given  in 
the  so-called  Apostolical  Constitutions  ;  and,  of  course,  the  English 
follows  the  Latin,  except  in  the  part  taken  from  the  Gospel,  where 
"  good  will  to  men"  takes  the  place  of  "  to  men  of  good  will  " 
(hominibus  bonae  voluntatis),  the  latter  being  the  reading  adopted 
by  the  English  translators  of  1611,  but  rejected  by  the  revisers  of 
1883.* 

Who  made  the  Latin  version  ?  An  untrustworthy  tradition 
ascribes  it  to  Telesphorus,  who  was  Bishop  of  Rome  in  128-38. 
It  is  possible  that  he  prescribed  the  chanting  of  the  Scripture  words 
in  the  Church  service  ;  but  the  whole  hymn  is  of  later  date  in 
Latin.  There  is  much  more  likelihood  that  it  was,  according  to 
a  tradition  recorded  by  Alcuin  in  the  ninth  century,  the  work  of 
Hilary  of  Poitiers,  the  first  Latin  hymn-writer. 

The  Te  Deum  laudamus  has  some  claims  to  be  regarded  as  the 
greatest  of  Christian  hymns.  Like  the  Gloria  in  Excelsis  it  be 
longs  to  that  first  period  of  Christian  hymn-writing,  when  the 
Hebrew  psalms  still  furnished  the  models  for  Christian  poets,  and 
the  same  free  movement  of  rhythmical  prose  was  all  that  was  re 
quired  or  even  tolerated.  There  is  no  mention  of  it  in  Church 


*  See  note  on  Luke  2  :  14  in  the  second  volume  of  Westcott  and  Hort's 
New  Testament  in  the  Original  Greek.     London  and  New  York,  1882. 


UNKNOWN  AND  LESS  KNOWN  HYMN-WRITERS.  349 

literature  before  the  sixth  century,  when  the  monastic  rules  of 
both  Caesarius  of  Aries  (c,  527)  and  of  Benedict  of  Nursia  (c.  530) 
prescribe  its  use,  and  the  Council  of  Toledo  mentions  it.  As  it 
uses  the  words  of  the  Vulgate  in  verses  22-25  and  27  to  the  end,  it 
cannot,  as  it  now  stands,  be  much  more  than  a  century  older  than 
this,  as  the  date  of  the  Vulgate  is  382-404.  Yet  a  tradition 
recorded  by  Abbot  Abbo  of  Fleury  in  the  ninth  century,  ascribes 
this  hymn  also  to  Hilary  of  Poitiers,  who  died  fifteen  years  before 
Jerome  put  his  hand  to  the  work  of  revising  the  Latin  Bible. 
Daniel  thinks  to  reconcile  the  discrepancy  by  ascribing  it  to  Hilary 
of  Aries,  who  was  born  the  year  before  Jerome  had  finished  his 
work,  and  by  regarding  it  as  a  translation  from  the  Greek,  as 
verses  22-26  certainly  are.  They  are  found  in  the  Appendix  to  the 
Alexandrian  manuscript  of  the  Greek  New  Testament,  where  they 
follow  the  Gloria  in  Excelsis  with  the  interruption  only  of  an 
Amen.  But  is  it  not  possible  to  regard  the  last  eight  verses  as  a 
separate  hymn,  made  up,  with  the  exception  of  the  strong  verse — 

26.   Dignare,  Domine,  die  isto  sine  peccato  nos  custodire— 

of  verses  from  the  Scriptures  ?  These  last  verses  have  no  internal 
connection  with  the  first  twenty-two,  and  they  differ  decidedly  in 
style,  form,  and  source.  Those  contain  no  Scripture  quotations, 
except  the  Ter-Sanctus  in  verses  5  and  6,  which  is  not  taken  from 
the  Vulgate  version,*  but  apparently  from  the  Itala.  If,  therefore, 
we  consider  those  twenty- two  verses  as  a  hymn  by  themselves,  this 
may  have  been  the  work  of  Hilary  of  Poitiers,  and  there  is  no 
necessity  for  assuming  that  it  was  not  an  original  Latin  hymn. 
This  becomes  more  probable  if  we  drop  out  verse  13,  which  inter 
rupts  the  flow  of  the  Christological  thought,  and  evidently  was 
interpolated  to  make  the  hymn  complete  from  a  Trinitarian  point 


*  The  Te  Detim  has  it, 

5.  Sanctus,  Sanctus,  Sanctus,  Dominus  Deus  Sabaoth, 

6.  Pleni  sunt  coeli  et  terra  majestatis  gloriae  tuae. 
In  the  Vulgate,  Isaiah  6,  it  reads, 

Sanctus,  Sanctus,  Sanctus,  Dominus  Dcus  exercitttm. 
Plena  est  omnis  terra  gloriae  ejus. 

The  Septuagint,  from  which  the  older  Latin  version  was  made,  re 
tained  the  Hebrew  word  Sabaoth,  instead  of  translating  it.  Verse  6  is  an 
expansion  of  the  Scripture  text 


350  LATIN  HYMNS. 

of  view.  When  the  Gloria  in  Excelsis  and  the  Te  Deum  were 
composed,  it  was  the  relation  of  the  Son  to  the  Father  which  occu 
pied  the  mind  of  the  Church.  Both  hymns  are  the  expression  of 
"  the  present  truth"  on  that  subject;  the  mention  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  both  is  probably  by  interpolation  at  a  later  date. 

As  the  form,  and  in  some  places  the  meaning  of  the  Te  Deum  is 
misrepresented  in  the  current  version,  it  may  be  worth  while  to 
reproduce  the  original  in  a  more  literal  version  : 

1.  Thee  as  God  we  praise, 
Thee  as  Lord  we  own, 

2.  Thee  as  eternal  Father  all  the  earth  doth  worship, 

3.  Thee  all  the  angels— 

To  thee  heaven  and  all  its  powers, 

4.  To  thee  cherubim  and  seraphim  with  unceasing  voice  cry  aloud, 

5.  Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth, 

6.  The  heavens  and  the  earth  are  full  of  the  majesty  of  thy  glory  ! 

7.  Thee  the  glorious  choir  of  the  apostles, 

8.  Thee  the  praiseworthy -company  of  the  prophets, 

g.  Thee  the  white-robed  army  of  the  martyrs  praiseth. 

10.  Thee,  through  the  circle  of  the  lands,  the  Holy  Church  confesseth 

11.  Father  of  unbounded  majesty  ; 

12.  Thy  adorable,  true  and  only  Son. 

13  (14).  Thou  King  of  glory,  O  Christ, 

14  (15).  Thou  of  the  Father  art  the  Son  eternal. 

15  (16).  Thou,  to  deliver  us,  tookest  manhood, 

Thou  didst  not  dread  the  Virgin's  womb. 

16  (17).  Thou,  since  thou  hast  overcome  the  sting  of  death, 

Hast  opened  to  believers  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

17  (18).  Thou,  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  sittest  in  the  glory  of  the  Father  ; 

18  (19).  As  our  judge  thou  art  believed  to  be  coming. 

19  (20)    Thee  therefore  we  beg, 

Assist  thy  servants  whom  thou  hast  redeemed  with  precious  blood. 

20  (21).  Cause  us  to  be  gifted,   among  thy  saints,  with  eternal  glory. 

Amen. 

There  are  no  other  unfathered  hymns  known  to  be  of  this  cen 
tury,  and  few  less  notable  hymn-writers.  To  Jerome  is  ascribed 
a  hymn,  Te  Bethlehem  celebrat,  which  is  not  in  any  of  the  collec 
tions.  His  great  contemporary,  Augustine  of  Hippo,  has  had 
more  than  one  fine  hymn  assigned  to  him,  probably  because  his 
works  have  furnished  the  suggestion  for  so  many.  Notably  Peter 
Damiani  and  Hildebert  of  Tours  drew  upon  him.  But  the  great 
theologian  was  not  a  poet,  as  we  can  see  from  his  one  essay  in 


UNKNOWN  AND  LESS  KNOWN  HYMN-WRITERS.  351 

that  form,  viz.,  his  "psalm"  against  the  Donatists,  in  which  he 
gives  a  popular  and  metrical  exposition  of  the  parable  of  the  net 
(Matt  13  :  47-50).  It  is  quite  enough  to  prove  that  he  did  not 
write  the  Ad perennis  vitae  fontem  (Damiani),  or  the  Quid,  iyranne, 
quid  minaris  (Damiani),  or  the  O  gens  beata  coelitum,  or  even  the 
Domine  Jesu,  noverim  me,  all  of  which  have  been  given  to  him  at 
times. 

To  the  fifth  century — the  century  of  Prudentius  and  Ennodius 
— we  may  ascribe  the  earlier  in  the  large  group  of  hymns  classed  as 
Ambrosian,  which  are  the  work  of  a  series  of  writers  who  may  be 
described  as  constituting  a  school.  It  is  one  of  the  hardest  prob 
lems  in  Latin  hymnology  to  distinguish  between  Ambrose's  own 
work  and  that  of  his  imitators,  and  to  arrange  the  hymns  composed 
by  the  latter  between  the  fifth  and  the  eighth  century  in  any 
chronological  order.  What  can  be  said  positively  has  been  shown 
in  Chapter  V.  The  chief  authorities  on  the  subject  are  the  early 
collectors,  Clichtove,  Cassander,  and  Thomasius.  Of  consider 
able  importance  is  the  MS.  given  by  Francis  Junius  in  the  seven 
teenth  century  to  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  published  in  1830 
by  Jacob  Grimm.  It  contains  a  collection  of  twenty-six  hymns 
by  Ambrose  and  the  Ambrosians,  with  a  translation  into  old  High 
German,  probably  made  at  St.  Gall  in  the  ninth  century.  But 
these  do  not  exhaust  the  list.  Others  have  been  pointed  out  by 
Mone  and  other  collectors,  as  proving  their  kinship  to  the  school 
by  their  metrical  form  or  their  contents  and  style.  Schletterer 
enumerates  ninety  hymns  of  the  school,  and  of  these  he  assigns 
fifteen  to  Ambrose  himself. 

Closely  related  to  the  group,  and  yet  not  assigned  to  it,  are 
several  hymns  to  which  a  very  early  date  is  assigned  by  Mone  at 
least.  To  this  fifth  century  he  gives  the  Unam  duorum  gloriam, 
which  he  also  claims  as  of  German  origin,  and  describes  as  one  of 
the  oldest  hymns  of  the  German  Church.  It  is  in  commemoration 
of  two  martyrs,  to  whose  honor  a  church  near  Miinster  was  dedi 
cated,  and  is  strictly  classic  in  metre.  Here  also  he  assigns  the 
Christi  calerva  damitat,  an  Advent  hymn  of  classic  metre  and  primi 
tive  tone.  He  probably  would  agree  with  Wackernagel  in  select 
ing  the  same  century  for  the  hymn  on  Stephen,  the  protomartyr, 
Primatis  aulae  coeltcae,  in  which  he  finds  reminders  of  the  style  of 
Prudentius.  Lastly,  he  assigns  this  date  to  the  Paschal  hymn,  Tc 


352  LATIN  HYMNS. 

lucis  auctor  personal,  which  became  obsolete  when  its  special  refer 
ence  to  Easter